The chocolate chip cookie. A staple of households across America. Whether homemade from grandma’s recipe or straight out of a Nestlé tub, we love them. Big, small, chewy, crunchy … no matter what combination we each have our own idea of the ideal cookie.
I have always been a loyal fan of my mom’s recipe, which, as it turns out, comes from the back of the chocolate chip package — cue the “Friends” references. Definitely the best-kept secret of my childhood! I also love a good ole Panera Chocolate Chipper or a double chocolate chunk from Insomnia every now and then. However, in December I discovered my new favorite — sorry, Mom.
Thanks to my English professor bringing cookies to class, I found it — the most beautiful chocolate chip cookie I’d ever seen. Flat, covered in chocolate puddles, sprinkled with sea salt and about as big as my face. This cookie was the perfect balance of crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside and stuffed with dark chocolate goodness. There was chocolate in every bite of this cookie, which — at least for me — is a must-have. The more chocolate the better. So of course, I just had to have the recipe for these little bites of heaven.
The Smitten Kitchen blog reworked this recipe, originally from The New York Times, to better suit a busy lifestyle and a budget. You can find the recipe at this link.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt
- 3 1/2 cups plus 2 teaspoons (yes, really) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves
- Sea salt
Steps, summarized from Smitten Kitchen website:
- Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy and light.
- Add eggs one at a time, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt, mixing after each addition.
- Add flour and mix until just combined.
- Add chocolate and chill dough in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Make baseball sized balls of dough —yes I know it sounds big, these are big cookies. Place them far apart on a lined baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 12-17 minutes
- Enjoy!
After giving it a few tries, I had a few notes:
1. Make sure to let your dough warm to room temperature between chilling and baking. Cold dough doesn’t spread like it should.
2. Yes, chocolate wafers, or just flat pieces of chocolate are the best to use (they give the layers of chocolate that make this cookie ridiculously good), and they are pretty easy to find (check at Whole Foods)
3. Be prepared for endless compliments from anyone who tries these cookies … They’ll be begging you to make more!
Overall, this cookie is easy to make and absolutely delicious! I have this page bookmarked in my laptop — it’s now my go-to cookie recipe. The recipe makes more dough than you probably will need, which means it will last you more than just a few days (yay!) unless you’re like me and like to just snack on the dough straight from the fridge.
But the best part is you don’t have to be a baking genius to knock these cookies out of the park. Anyone with a hand mixer and a love for chocolate chip cookies can whip up a batch of these bad boys. I encourage anyone with a craving for something homemade to give this recipe a try — you won’t regret it.
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