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The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

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These chocolate chip cookies are soft, chewy and thick with a toffee like caramel flavor that blossoms throughout each bite and each of those bites are stuffed with the explosion of ooey-gooey chocolate.  Be still my heart!!  The browned butter lends a matured flavor profile to the dough while the melted aspect of it will yield an even chewier cookie.  Making them even chewier is the higher proportion of brown sugar to granulated sugar.  The salted tops balance out the sweetness while the soft hint of coffee compliments the chocolate and the cornstarch mixed in with the dry mixture allows the dough to stay even softer with the aid of baking soda which will help tenderize the dough too.  The extra yolk imparts a richness {and extra chewiness} that can’t be achieved any other way.  Basically, these are super star cookies that cover every angle for achieving the perfect anatomy for an exception chocolate chip cookie.

You’ll never bite into a softer or chewier cookie.  These are cookies that actually taste fresh and delicious days later.  I found this out during the half dozen trial runs in my kitchen testing this recipe, tweaking and perfecting it as I went.  You see, I’ve searched my entire life for the cookie.  Nothing seduces me more than a warm chocolate chip cookie.  Ooey-gooey love of my life!  This cookie is just exploding with chocolate and as they bake, what they leave behind are intense luxurious puddles of sinful melted chocolate.  I use almost an entire bag of chocolate for these.  It’s optional, but why wouldn’t you?  Stuff those suckers, you only live once!  If you never bake one thing in your life from scratch, please let homemade chocolate chip cookies be the one exception.  Particularly this one because I’m that deeply in love with them and I just know you will be too.

As they have lasting power after they’ve been baked, the same goes for how long they age in the fridge.  This alone will double the success of any ole plain cookie dough but when it’s applied here, it elevates it to a whole other level.  I beg you to chill your cookie dough.  If you’re in a huge rush, you could get away with a 24 hour period but as they sit and the flavors co-mingle, truly magical things happen as I mention to you in my how-to recipe video.  Speaking of, come and hang out with me and I’ll demonstrate each step and show you how I make these epic homemade chocolate chip cookies and how you can too.

 

 

 

 

 

5.0 from 2 reviews

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 1 Dozen

Ingredients
  • 2¼ c unbleached flour
  • 2 ts cornstarch
  • 1 ts baking soda
  • 2 sticks unsalted, browned butter
  • ⅔ c brown sugar, firmly packed
  • ½ c granulated sugar
  • 1 whole room temp. egg + 1 room temp. egg yolk
  • 2 ts pure vanilla extract
  • ½ ts instant espresso powder
  • ¼ ts fine salt
  • 10-12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips/chunks
  • Flaked sea salt for topping {like Maldon…Fleur de Sel is nice}

Instructions
  1. In a sturdy pan, slowly melt the butter {go low and slow}, swirling every so often until it gets golden brown and smells nutty. Be watchful so it doesn’t burn, which can happen very quickly.
  2. In your first bowl, cream the cooled brown butter with both sugars for 3-5 minutes. Blend in the egg yolk then egg.
  3. Add the espresso power, salt, and vanilla.
  4. To the second bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.
  5. In thirds, pour the second bowl into the first bowl, taking care not to over mix
  6. Finally, fold in almost all of the chocolate.
  7. Scoop and roll each dough ball and press extra chocolate chunks into the tops of each.
  8. Triple wrap and refrigerate for 2-5 days.
  9. When ready to bake, allow the cookies to sit out for 20-30 minutes before baking then preheat the oven to 325* and line a baking sheet with either silpat or parchment {never wax}.
  10. Lightly press flakes of salt onto the tops of each cookie and bake for 8-11 minutes. {This is how long it takes for 2 oz cookies} When in doubt, slightly undertake as the cookies will continue to heat on the baking sheet even after they’ve been pulled out.
  11. After baking, allow the cookies to set up on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes then carefully transfer onto a wire rack.

Notes
Prep time does not include inactive chilling time.

Tips for success:

  • Always cream cookie doughs for at least 3-5 minutes so that the sugars get suspended in the fat and get completely blended to impart a soft and tender texture.
  • Scrape the bowl as you go so you don’t end up with unmixed pockets.
  • Never over mix which leads to the over development of gluten making for a tough, bread-y cookie.
  • Salt and coffee are your friends.  They enhance the flavors with salt highlighting the doughs sweetness and the coffee complimenting the chocolate. The browned butter blooms a tangle of flavors making the finished cookie taste caramelized and nutty all at once.   At the very least, always use salt.  Cookies and most all baked goods are just sad and flat without it.
  • Cornstarch lends a super soft and thick consistency to the cookies while the extra yolk makes them extra rich and chewy.
  • Chill the dough!  This allows the flavors to meld and redistribute while the flour absorbs into the liquid, hydrating it for a chewy and moist cookie.  If you roll/scoop out the dough then chill, it will also produce a much thicker cookie.
  • When in doubt, under bake rather than over bake.  You can always hit it with a little bit of heat later but you can’t ever take it back.
  • You can definitely freeze pre-scooped cookie dough balls.  I like to line them on parchment/silpat and allow them to freeze this way and then transfer them to a zip top bag.  My double wrapped batches stay good for up to 4 months.

Cheers to warm, chocolate chunk cookies!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster

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