Happy New Year! It’s been so long; how about a quick catch-up in photos?
OCTOBER…
NOVEMBER…
DECEMBER…
Aaaaand that pretty much brings us up to January! I know we all have resolutions to eat better, tone up, and drop some ell-bees. But seriously. Who wants cookies?
I thought so.
I have long been in search of a recipe that would yield just the most perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Crunchy around the edges, chewy in the middle, and full of gooey chocolate.
I think I’ve found it, friends. This recipe is an adaptation of an adaptation; it’s a Cooks Illustrated recipe I found via Our Best Bites blog. It uses melted butter to produce a denser, chewier cookie, rather than whipped butter, which incorporates air into the batter and creates a fluffier cookie.
I leave the electric mixer in the drawer and mix these up by hand to make sure they are extra dense and extra chewy. Plus, stirring by hand burns a lot of calories, so really you could consider these “workout cookies.”
The original recipe calls for a cup and a half of chocolate chips. I don’t think that’s enough, do you? And for these cookies I don’t want little studs of chocolate. I want huge, melty chunks. After all, it’s January. Time to get serious.
I scoop my dough out with a number 40 cookie scoop to ensure uniform size, and then I press a few extra chocolate chunks onto the top of each cookie before baking. I think the cookies are prettier this way. And more chocolatey.
And a final tip: it’s a good idea to double this recipe.
You know, in case somebody else wants some.
MY NEW FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (printable pdf)
Adapted from Our Best Bites and Cooks Illustrated
- 2 Cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted and cooled
- 1 Cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 (11.5 oz) bag chocolate chips OR 3 (4 oz) Ghirardelli chocolate bars, broken into chunks
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, mix butter and sugars together until thoroughly combined. (Hand mixing recommended for minimal incorporation of air.) Stir in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients in 2-3 additions. Stir in chocolate chunks.
My version calls for a larger amount of chocolate chunks, and it may be difficult to thoroughly incorporate ALL of them into the batter. This is fine though, as you can use the loose rogue chunks to top off the cookies before baking.
The Cooks Illustrated/Our Best Bites recipe says to scoop out 1/4 Cup of dough, form it into a ball, then pull the ball apart in half, each half forming a cookie. I, however, prefer to use a #40 cookie scoop. Either way, scoop dough onto a foil-lined cookie sheet (for easy clean-up) about 2 inches apart. Top each dough ball with a few extra chocolate chunks.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and just barely beginning to turn golden brown. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Happy New Year!
