Cream together in a stand mixer:
2 sticks of
butter
1 t. vanilla
1 c. brown sugar
Add:
1
egg YOLK
2 eggs
Beat well.
Mix in until just combined:
3 c. all purpose flour (I live near Denver, CO. If you live at a lower altitude, reduce flour by 1/4 to 1/2 c.)
1
t. salt
1 t. baking POWDER
Pour in:
1 1/2 to 2 c.
semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 c. white sugar
Stir/knead until sugar and
flour are incorporated.
Refrigerate
dough.
After at least a few hours (until the dough is thoroughly chilled) scoop out 3-T.
sized cookies. Shape into balls, then flatten to about 1/4 inch tall and about 2 1/2 inches diameter.
Bake at 350 for
about 14 minutes (ovens vary, adjust bake time accordingly). Sprinkle a little extra salt if desired, immediately upon
removing from oven. Remove from pan and let cool briefly on a rack before gobbling up
every gooey bite.
I don't know about you, but it drives me crazy when I find a recipe on a blog and I have to scroll through pages of prep photos and stories about husbands, children, and grocery stores before I get to the need-to-know information to make the food! So I put my recipe at the top. But I do want to let my regular readers know that I have been researching and testing chocolate chip cookie recipes for about a year now, and I'm very happy with these results. There is a more complicated recipe that I like slightly better, but this version is one of the best I've *ever* tasted!
My sister makes amazing cookies. I think that three things make them amazing: her laziness (using a stand mixer and taking frequent, sometimes day-long breaks), the huge size of the cookies, and using margarine. I want big, soft, not-too-cake-like cookies myself, but faster and with butter instead of margarine. These cookies are not crumbly. They are not crunchy like store-bought cookies. They are not flat.
I like the flavor of butter in my cookies. These have it.
I like my cookies to have extra dimension in their flavor: sweet, chocolate, butter, salt, and a touch of caramel. These accomplish that.
I like my cookies to be just a tiny bit gooey in the center, and not dark brown on the edges. Here they are.
A long time ago I read a suggestion of adding extra fat without too much extra liquid, by adding an egg yolk. I've tried with and without the extra yolk, and I think it makes a difference in helping the cookie to stand up and stay gooey.
Baking powder makes the cookies fluffier/taller than baking soda.
Adding the white sugar at the end causes the outsides to caramelize during cooking, for an ever-so-slight crispiness encasing the soft cookie. Using a little more brown sugar than white also contributes to the deeper flavor.
I'm liking Guittard's Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, all GMO free, yummy flavor, and excellent melting. They're sold at my local Safeway and Sprouts stores.
To God be all glory.
