simply amazing chocolate chip cookies
If you thought that when I gave up bacon for lent, I'd lead a clean healthy life .... you were majorly off base.
I've just merely substituted bacon for chocolate and cheez-its. But not together. That just seems wrong.
The candy jar in my apartment has been stripped clean of all my favorites. I started with the Mr. Goodbars, then cleared out all the white chocolate mini Reese cups, and then polished off the Krackle bars. This past week, I resorted to eating the plain milk chocolate bars. Don't worry. All of these are the "mini size"... as if this makes the behavior any better.
So last night after a moderately failed workout (I think my new sneakers are killing my knees), I fully intended on going to Whole Foods for some yogurt and other life essentially (sneak peak... its Irish Soda Bread season). But... instead.... I stayed on my couch and made some roasted brussel sprouts sans pancetta. Then, the chocolate monster came.... and I flashed back to this blog post from the adorable Mary at Tulips & Flight Suits about the most amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe.
You know how the rest of it goes. Butter melted, flour added, dough taste tested, chocolate chips added, dough taste tested again. End result? This might actually be the best chocolate chip cookie dough recipe I've ever had. Toss your Tollhouse recipe in the trash cause this is the winner.
Before I give you the rundown, I'll let you in on a two little accidental experiments I conducted during the baking process:
(Experiment One) My lovely North End temperamental oven is very hard to get to the right temperature.... so the first batch cooked at 400 F where as the second batch cooked at 325 F. The end result is (obviously) two totally different cookies from the same batter.
(Experiment One) My lovely North End temperamental oven is very hard to get to the right temperature.... so the first batch cooked at 400 F where as the second batch cooked at 325 F. The end result is (obviously) two totally different cookies from the same batter.
- 400 F results in cookies that are a bit "taller" and more resemble slightly melted ice cream scoops, super melty chewy in the middle with a slightly crunchy exterior shell
- 325 F results in cookies that are more traditional in shape, flatter, less "soft" after 2 hrs out of the oven
Obviously you cook the cookies for different amounts of time as well (see below for those details) - but I feel an odd sense of victory over this one. This local sandwich shop makes these amazing CC cookies that make my Mom bananas... and now I know how to make them. They are the 400 F option.
Top and Side views of the cookies.... The left cookie is the 400 F, the right cookie is 325 F
(Experiment Two) I tend to prefer mini chocolate chips in my baking because I don't like my cookies to be *full* of chocolate. But, I only had about a cup of the mini chips... so I went halfzies on mini and regular sized chips in this recipe. And. It. Was. Perfect. It's like there's a little bit of chocolate *everywhere* but not in this overpowering and obnoxious "i'm a chocolate chip cookie for real" sort of way.
So pick your poison my friends and enemies because you will love these cookies and eat a fair amount of the dough as well.
Here's how it goes:
(Step 1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees or 400 degrees, based on your preferred cookie style. grease cookie sheets.
(Step 2) Are you a fancy organized baker? If yes, sift together the flour and baking soda; set aside. If you aren't, then you'll just add these ingredients into the wet ones in Step 4.
(Step 3) In a separate bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
(Step 4) Add the dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) into the wet mix. If you are a person who likes to play with the consistency of dough, add in the flour in batches. I used more butter in my batch (1 cup vs 3/4 cup) and as a result needed more flour (approx 1/3 cup).
(Step 5) Add in the chocolate chips. If you are like me, by this point.... you've eaten about 2 cookies worth of raw dough. But the upside is... your soul feels amazing.
(Step 6) I like to use my cookie dough scoop to drop the dough so I get evenly sized cookies. So drop these suckers on the sheet evenly spaced and get ready to toss them in the oven.
(Step 7) If you chose the flatter, slightly more crisp cookie ... bake for about 15 minutes at 325 F. If you chose the rounder, dough-ier cookie ... bake for about 6-7 minutes at 400 F.
Shopping List (makes 34ish cookies)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips - regular size
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips - mini size
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