Cream together in a stand mixer:
2 sticks of butter
1 t. vanilla
1 c. brown sugar
Add:
1 egg YOLK
2 eggs
Beat well.
Mix in until just combined:
3 c. all purpose flour (I live near Denver, CO. If you live at a lower altitude, reduce flour by 1/4 to 1/2 c.)
1 t. salt
1 t. baking POWDER
Pour in:
1 1/2 to 2 c. semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 c. white sugar
Stir/knead until sugar and flour are incorporated.
Refrigerate dough.
After at least a few hours (until the dough is thoroughly chilled) scoop out 3-T. sized cookies. Shape into balls, then flatten to about 1/4 inch tall and about 2 1/2 inches diameter.
Bake at 350 for about 14 minutes (ovens vary, adjust bake time accordingly). Sprinkle a little extra salt if desired, immediately upon removing from oven. Remove from pan and let cool briefly on a rack before gobbling up every gooey bite.
I don’t know about you, but it drives me crazy when I find a recipe on a blog and I have to scroll through pages of prep photos and stories about husbands, children, and grocery stores before I get to the need-to-know information to make the food! So I put my recipe at the top. But I do want to let my regular readers know that I have been researching and testing chocolate chip cookie recipes for about a year now, and I’m very happy with these results. There is a more complicated recipe that I like slightly better, but this version is one of the best I’ve *ever* tasted!
My sister makes amazing cookies. I think that three things make them amazing: her laziness (using a stand mixer and taking frequent, sometimes day-long breaks), the huge size of the cookies, and using margarine. I want big, soft, not-too-cake-like cookies myself, but faster and with butter instead of margarine. These cookies are not crumbly. They are not crunchy like store-bought cookies. They are not flat.
I like the flavor of butter in my cookies. These have it.
I like my cookies to have extra dimension in their flavor: sweet, chocolate, butter, salt, and a touch of caramel. These accomplish that.
I like my cookies to be just a tiny bit gooey in the center, and not dark brown on the edges. Here they are.
A long time ago I read a suggestion of adding extra fat without too much extra liquid, by adding an egg yolk. I’ve tried with and without the extra yolk, and I think it makes a difference in helping the cookie to stand up and stay gooey.
Baking powder makes the cookies fluffier/taller than baking soda.
Adding the white sugar at the end causes the outsides to caramelize during cooking, for an ever-so-slight crispiness encasing the soft cookie. Using a little more brown sugar than white also contributes to the deeper flavor.
I’m liking Guittard’s Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, all GMO free, yummy flavor, and excellent melting. They’re sold at my local Safeway and Sprouts stores.
To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn
Lisa of Longbourn 