Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Makes 14 cookies)

Ingredients

• 8.75 oz of bread flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6.5 oz dark brown sugar
• 2.25 oz granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
• 2 tbs whole milk
• 7.5 oz Ghirardelli Semisweet chocolate chips)
• (Don’t add) 3/4 cup pecans or walnuts toasted and chopped.

*The how and why down below

Instructions:

1. Whisk flour and baking soda in small bowl.
2. Melt 10 tablespoons of butter in 10-inch skillet over medium high (5) heat. Continue to cook, swirling constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma.
3. Transfer browned butter to large bowl and stir in remaining 4 tablespoons of butter until melted.
4. Whisk in brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt until incorporated. Set timer for 3:30 mins and whisk in milk, egg and yolk until smooth and no lumps remain (30 seconds).
5. Let mixture stand for 3 mins. Set timer for 3:30 mins then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process two more times until mixture is smooth and shiny.
6. Using a rubber spatula stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Then fold in chocolate chips and throw the pecans/walnuts in the trash.
7. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Refrigerate dough until oven is up to temp. You want it close to or just below room temp so it’s easier to ball up.
9. Working with 2.5 oz (3 tbs) dough at a time, roll into balls and space them 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. (Dough balls can be frozen for up to a month. Bake frozen dough balls in 300 degree oven for 30-35 mins)
10. Bake cookies 1 sheet at a time until golden brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft and puffy.  10-14 minutes (12 mins) , rotate sheet(s) halfway through baking.
11. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

* Baking is Making

In September of 2018 I wanted to make a really good chocolate chip cookie. It’s the iconic American cookie. You want something like the Nestle Tollhouse Cookie, but not as bland and cakey. I started with an America’s Test Kitchen recipe that made a decent cookie. I learned when you melt the butter, it’s water becomes more available to the flour- this creates more gluten which makes a chewier cookie (more on that later). Browning it, adds a deep caramel flavor and using two yolks, but only one egg white keeps them from becoming too cakey. These were good cookies, especially when fresh, but if you stored them for a day or two they lost their chewiness no matter what.

Make a better, always consistent, and permanently chewy cookie… (without getting fat). First I looked to Martha Stewart. Her recipe looked like it would produce a flat crispy cookie… but she did note that using bread flour would make a chewier cookie. This makes sense: all-purpose flour made from winter wheat rolls in at about 10% protein (aka gluten), and bread flour clocks in at 12%-14%. That was part of the equation. My wife credits her cooking prowess to her father, and Alton Brown., So I checked in with the Good Eats aficionado. He has what appears to be a more cakey recipe that requires a mixer- but he suggests that adding some whole milk and having a much higher brown sugar to white sugar ratio produces a chewier cookie. So after bunches of batches of testing I tinkered my way to the perfect chocolate chip cookie. (At least my four year old thinks so strongly enough that he argues with his classmates in pre-school).

P.S. Buy the good butter. I used to think butter is butter. It isn’t. If you have a choice between $1.75, $5.00, or $7.50- buy the $5.00 butter for these cookies, and the $7.50 if you’re making proper pasta sauce.