Day 21: Good Ole' Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a confession to make.


I did not make a cookie today.


In all honesty, my Business Man and I have dozens and dozens of cookies in our kitchen. And even more tupperwares of leftover dough in the fridge. I am cookie'd out. 


BUT!!! I made chocolate chip cookies back in August, and never blogged about it. So here we go!

Chocolate chip cookies might not seem like quite the Christmas cookie. But for some people, who don't like a lot of fancy and frill, they fit the bill perfectly. Such as, my uncle. He and his wife and sons live in Oregon, and he just absolutely loves chocolate chip cookies. Every year on his birthday and at Christmas, my mom and I make him a batch of cookies and mail it to him. (Hmmm... now that I don't live with my parents, who is responsible for that job? Must talk to my mother...) 

Anyways, I have forever been on the search for "the" perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I usually find one, love it for a few months, then find a supposedly better one. This is the one I have been using as of late.

The cookies are chewy and buttery, which has to do with the fact that you brown the butter before mixing up the dough. Also, the recipe calls for unique whisking and 'resting' of the dough. Strange, but I thought the cookies were fabulous. Perhaps that's the secret!


I got the recipe from this blog.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

makes about 16 cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

14 tbsp. unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

optional: 3/4 c chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 375*F and line two large baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats. 

Sift or whisk together the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Put 10 tbsp. of the butter in a medium skillet set over medium high heat. Allow the butter to melt for 2 minutes and begin to swirl it around the pan, allowing it to brown. Keep the butter moving so it doesn’t burn. Browning should take about 3 minutes and you’ll know it’s done when it smells nutty and it has a dark golden brown color. Remove the pan from the heat and use a heatsafe spatula to transfer the butter to a large, heatsafe mixing bowl. 

Add the remaining 4 tbsp of cold butter to the melted butter, and stir gently until it is melted.

Add the white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt to the butter and whisk the ingredients together. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk again until mixture is smooth, 30 seconds. Allow the batter to rest for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds more. Do this two more times; the end result should be thick and shiny.

Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined, about 1 minute. Gently stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using. The batter will be soft.

Form each cookie with roughly 3 tbsp. of dough. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake one tray at a time, 10 to 14 minutes, on the middle rack of your oven. Rotate baking sheet after 5 minutes and check the cookies at 10; you want them to be golden brown and set around the edges, but puffy in the middle. 

Allow to cool on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

That's it for now. No worries though about myself being 'cookied out'... I already have great plans for tomorrow, and I can feel my sweet tooth coming back. ;-)

P.S. Check out mine and my Business Man's 'Christmas Letter 2010' up at the top!!