Bittersweet memories

Dear SOS: Annie’s chocolate chip cookies at Clementine in Century City are darn near inimitable.

Rachel Davidson

and Jeffrey Janger

Los Angeles

Dear Rachel and Jeffrey: Annie Miler of Clementine bakes these in a convection oven to give them a wrinkled look. We found a regular oven will yield a smoother surface. Miler uses bittersweet pastilles (round chocolate disks), available at Surfas in Los Angeles and Nicole’s Gourmet Foods in South Pasadena. You can substitute 1 cup of coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate.

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Chocolate chip cookies

Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Servings: About 14 cookies

1/2 cup cake flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup pastilles

1. Mix together the cake and all-purpose flours, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

2. Cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer just until the butter chunks disappear. Beat in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the pastilles.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, 1 hour or overnight.

4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees (convection oven) or to 375 degrees (standard oven). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll chunks of batter between your hands into balls about the size of golf balls; place on the baking sheet. Bake until the cookies are done in the center and crispy around the edges, 11 minutes. Remove to wire racks.

Each serving: 304 calories; 188 mg. sodium; 58 mg. cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0 fiber.