The Recipe Hoarder

I’ve hoarded dozens of chocolate chip cookie recipes (see Annie & Mike’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cookie Brittle, and Union Station’s $350 Chocolate Chip Cookies for a few examples). Cook’s Illustrated has never steered me wrong before, so I thought I would give their Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies a try.

I’ll admit, I thought I might have found the clunker in the Cook’s Illustrated collection. The dough seemed greasy as I placed it on the cookie sheets, and the cookies really spread out. They didn’t look like they were going to be “my kind” of chocolate chip cookies. But, oh my, these cookies really earn the “perfect” in their title. They are so good. I was a fool to doubt their wonderfulness. The recipe calls for dark brown sugar for a full flavor, but I had light brown sugar on hand and I really can’t imagine these cookies tasting much better.

This recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.

What You Need

• 1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 14 T (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1/2 c sugar
• 3/4 c packed dark brown sugar
• 1 t salt
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips

What You Do

Place oven rack in the middle position; heat oven to 375°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

Place 10 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Heat the butter until it melts (about 2 minutes). Continuing cooking the butter until it is golden brown (1 to 3 minutes more). Swirl the pan over the burner while cooking to prevent scorching.

Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the browned butter to a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and stir until melted.

Add the sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla to the butter. Whisk until completely mixed. Add the egg and the egg yolk. Whisk until smooth (about 30 seconds). Let the mixture rest for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat the rest-then-whisk process 2 more times until the mixture is thick and shiny. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined (about a minute). Stir in the chocolate chips.

Form the dough into balls about 3 tablespoons big (you should get 16 balls). Place 8 dough balls on each prepared cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between the balls.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time. Bake 10 to 14 minutes until the edges begin to set but the center are still soft and puffy. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

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