My Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies are a classic for a reason – you can’t go wrong with a cookie that combines buttery dough, notes of caramel and a liberal studding of chocolate chips (or chunks, disks or wafers). For many people, chocolate chip cookies evoke memories of childhood and comfort, the ultimate nostalgic treat. As a result, I think you would be hard pressed to find a baker that does not have at least one chocolate chip cookie recipe in their repertoire. While this recipe might require a few more steps than other recipes out there, I think the quality of the result speaks for itself.
The browned butter enhances the caramel notes and creates greater depth of flavor. Using chopped chocolate provides a variety of sizes and shapes for the chocolate chips from small flakes that nearly melt into the dough to larger chunks that form delicious pools of chocolate in the final cookie. The protein content in the bread flour helps provide structure giving the cookies a nice chew in the center. Resting the dough overnight allows the flour to fully hydrate and the flavors to more fully develop while also reducing the spread of the cookies. Making chocolate chip cookies without these elements won’t result in a bad cookie, but making chocolate chip cookies WITH these elements will result in a great cookie!
My Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.kitchen scale (or measuring cups and spoons)
- medium bowl
- large saucepan
- whisk
- spatula
- cookie scoop (#30 or #40)
- large baking sheets
Ingredients
- 180 g bread flour
- 180 g cake flour
- 4 g baking soda
- 3 g baking powder
- 336 g unsalted butter
- 25 g dry milk powder
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 330 g dark brown sugar packed
- 9 g salt
- 15 ml vanilla
- 1 egg large
- 2 egg yolk large
- 510 g dark chocolate coarsely chopped (62 percent cacao or higher)
Instructions
- Whisk both flours, baking powder and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.180 g bread flour, 180 g cake flour, 4 g baking soda, 3 g baking powder
- Place 224 g (16 tbsp) of the butter and the dry milk powder in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter is melted. Continue cooking, whisking constantly until the butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma (about 8 minutes, watch closely as the mixture can g o from golden to scorched very quickly). Remove pan from heat and stir the remaining 112 g (8 tbsp) of butter into the hot butter until completely melted.336 g unsalted butter, 25 g dry milk powder
- Add both sugars and salt to the pan with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla, whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny.150 g granulated sugar, 330 g dark brown sugar, 9 g salt, 15 ml vanilla, 1 egg, 2 egg yolk
- Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chopped chocolate giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.510 g dark chocolate
- Press plastic wrap against dough and rest in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
- When ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature while preparing the oven and pans. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough onto the prepared pans using a #30 (2 tbsp) cookie scoop. Bake until golden brown but still soft, about 12-14 minutes. Cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an air tight container.
Notes
- You can replace the bread and cake flour with an equal weight of all purpose flour. While this will alter the texture a bit, the cookies will still be delicious.
- You can substitute chocolate chips for the chopped chocolate. If you do, I recommend using a variety of chip sizes/shapes. This will result in a “cleaner” appearance to the cookies as you won’t have the tiny flecks of chocolate throughout the dough.
- Experiment with other mix in options: different flavors of baking chips, nuts, M&Ms, etc.
- You can make these cookies smaller if you like, using a #40 cookie scoop instead. If you do, reduce the baking time to about 10 minutes.Â
- Because of the single egg, this isn’t the simplest recipe to cut down. But if you do want to try, I would recommend whisking the egg until it is homogenous in color/texture and then splitting it in half. Typically, half of a large egg would be about 25 g.Â
- When the dough comes out of the refrigerator, it will be very stiff. I strongly recommend that you do not skip allowing the dough to sit at room temperature for a while before attempting to scoop it.
Nutrition
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About The Author
That sounds absolutely delicious! The browned butter really does elevate the flavor, adding a nutty richness that complements the caramel notes so well. By the way, how do you make Ice Cream Sandwiches?
I haven’t tested these cookies in ice cream sandwiches, but I honestly don’t think they would work well as is. The high proportion and larger chunks of chocolate would freeze very hard as would the high volume of butter. They are also a little thicker than ideal for ice cream sandwiches.
If i were going to try to tweak this recipe for that purpose, I think I would start here:
Again, I want to stress that I have not tried/tested these tweaks, but they are all geared toward a more tender, moisture rich cookie with a stronger flavor profile that should work better with being frozen.