Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

  

If you could only have one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be? 

 

My answer would be fresh, homemade chocolate chip cookies. They are my weakness. I can't say "no" to a warm, soft chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven. I have a really good recipe here on the blog for Simply the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. That recipe makes some pretty great cookies. But, if you have a little extra time for a few extra steps this recipe for Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies will take your cookies to the next level! Taking the time to brown the butter and letting the sugar absorb into it, will result in a rich, toffee-like dough. I also used a mix of semi-sweet, milk and mini chocolate chips to pack the cookies full of chocolate. These truly are irresistible!

Recipe Link

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces) 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

14 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks), divided 

1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces) 

3/4 cups packed Dark brown sugar 

1 teaspoon table salt 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1 large egg 

1 large egg yolk 

*1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

*1/2 cup milk chocolate chips 

*1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 

3/4 cup chopped nuts, toasted (optional)  

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to middle of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10 inch skillet (don't use nonstick, its too hard to tell when the butter turns brown). Melt butter and continue cooking, swirling, stirring pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and smells "nutty." Remove skillet from heat and pour butter into a large heatproof mixing bowl. Stir in remaining 4 tablespoons butter into the hot, brown butter until completely melted. 

3. Add both sugars, salt and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk together. Add egg and egg yolk and whisk again until mixture is smooth with no lumps, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk another 30 secs. Repeat this process two more times. Mixture should be thick, smooth and shiny. 

4. Switch to a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and stir in flour and baking soda until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using). 

5. Using a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop (#24 scoop), portion 8 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet. 

6. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are light golden brown and still puffy. Edges should be set, but centers are still soft. Depending on your oven anywhere from 8-9 minutes to 10-12 minutes. Rotate baking sheet halfway through baking. When done baking, transfer cookies to cooling rack. Cool cookies before serving. Makes about 16 cookies.

Notes 

*Or use 1 1/2 cups total of any of your favorite chocolate chips. 

~Dough can be stored in fridge for 2-4 days before baking or about 2-3 months in the freezer. If frozen, thaw in fridge before baking. If stored in fridge, give it a little time to warm-up before scooping.

~If you haven't made brown butter before, here's a great tutorial from Simply Recipes.

~For Step 2, I poured browned butter into my Kitchenaid mixer bowl and used the whisk attachment for Step 3. 

~You can double this recipe for twice the cookies! It still works and tastes great. 

 

 

I used my Kitchenaid mixer with the whisk attachment for the whisking part of this recipe. I poured the hot, brown butter right into the bowl, stirred-in the remaining butter until melted and added the sugars, salt and vanilla. The machine whisked this altogether on about speed 2-3. Then, I added the egg and egg yolk and continued the whisking/resting process as directed in Step 3.

I removed the bowl from the mixer and switched to a rubber spatula for mixing in the flour and baking soda.

Notice how rich the dough looks. It's a beautiful caramel color and it smelled amazing!

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!!!

If you like to live on the edge and eat raw cookie dough (like me) , this dough is super good!

The right size scoop is important for the perfect cookie. I used a #24 scoop, which is a 3 Tablespoon scoop. It creates the best size dough ball for baking cookies with set, crunchy edges and soft, chewy insides.

Eight dough balls at a time gives them plenty of room and helps them cook evenly. Don't forget to rotate your baking sheet halfway to help with even cooking, too.

 

Yes, please!!!

 

The Results...

The extra steps in this recipe were worth it. My family agreed that these were the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. And I have made a lot of batches of chocolate chip cookies over the years. These cookies came out the way that we like our chocolate chip cookies: crunchy edges, soft and chewy middles, rich toffee flavored cookie and packed full of chocolate chips. If that's your idea of the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie..........I really think you'll love these, too! 

 

I'd love to know if you try this recipe and what you think, too. Leave a comment and let me know. And what dessert would you pick if you could only pick one? And how do you like your chocolate chip cookies? What other cookies are your favorite? I have lots of questions. 😄