The best of the best, the cream of the crop, soft, thick, tender and chewy, everything to love!
Chocolate chip cookies..
The staple of every baking recipe books, the favorite of every household.
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It seems that everyone has their favorite. Be it the one behind the Nestle Chocolate chip bag or the hand written one in their grandma own recipe book, handed down generation after generation.
From as long as I can remember I ate chocolate cookies, from cookie dough to fresh out of the oven. Even uncooked directly from the freezer! It’s still an iconic dessert served in many forms and in many restaurants!
For several years now, I’ve been on the hunt for some good, timeless, fail safe chocolate chip cookie recipe to be able to refine my own that I could, one day, give to my daughter. From Caribbean postcard to friend recipes, I have tried several. All had something special, they were also different.
What makes a soft chocolate cookie good
That is the real question.
What are we looking for in the perfect chocolate chip cookies?
What are the characteristics that makes an awesome one?
After a survey among friends, family and co-workers, here are some finding:
- Sugary but not over the top;
- Soft and Chewy;
- Thick;
- It shouldn’t disintegrate when you plunge it into a glass of milk; and
- A good balance between chocolate chip and dough is required;
So onward I went to find the perfect chocolate chip cookies… Not an easy task to say the least.
And at last, I got one! A recipe that I will be happy to repeat countless time, over and over again for ages and then transmit it to the next generation.
Some tips and tricks
There are some processes that you should follow to make sure to get the same results over and over again.
Beating the eggs
Some recipes will tell you to beat the eggs only lightly, treating the mixture as a delicate trinket. For my part, I always use my Trusty Stand Mixer and I beat the butter with dark brown sugar until I obtain a nice uniform creamy mixture.
I then add the eggs and egg yolks and beat them until I get a nice creamy aerated mixture. It add an extra depth to the cookie’s soft texture.
Baking soda
Baking soda is a chemical rising agent. It’s purpose is to create “bubbles” of gas in the cookie dough that will help the dough getting a nice puffiness.
Dark brown sugar vs light brown sugar
These 2 types of brown sugar, which differs only in the amount of molasses it’s mixed with, are mostly interchangeable in recipes. There shouldn’t be any difference by using one or the other. However, in this very specific recipe, using the Dark brown sugar will give you a unique caramelly depth of flavor that will leave you asking for more.
It will not change anything texture wise tho. As such, if you only have light brown sugar on hand, just use that instead.
Note:
Technically you could use refined white sugar in-lieu of the Dark brown sugar.
I’ve done it as a last resort solution. However, the white sugar, lacking the molasses, will change, not only the taste of the cookie, but it’s texture also. The addition of molasses to the sugar not only give a different set of flavor but also add a certain amount of humidity to the mixture. You could potentially add a table spoon of molasses to the mixture that might do the trick (WARNING, not tested by yours truly).
To chill or not to chill…
This is always a good question.
Should you chill your cookie dough?
In this case, the answer is simple: Yes.
And it’s actually very important that you do so. It’s a part of the baking chemical process that will make your cookie soft and chewy. If you are in a hurry, you can choose not to chill it, the cookies will be good, but not as soft and tender.
Tips:
If you are in a hurry, you could try to use the freezer to chill down the dough a little (WARNING, not tested by yours truly). However, I would not let it stick for long in there, it will chill/freeze the top even before the center is chilled.
Dark, brown or white chips
Like it’s often said, color makes no difference.
You can use the one you want, it will have no impact on the texture of the cookie.
The standard recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate chips, which is what most people are used to.
However, try to remember that dark chocolate chips is more bitter and it will results in less sugary cookies, but it will add another layer of complexity to the flavors.
On the other hand, the white chocolate chips have a pronounced sugar taste, so you will end up with some extra sweetness. You could even choose to use mint chocolate chips for a wintery themed version or some chocolate mini eggs for Easter or even Reeses Pieces, Caramel chips, Butterscotch chips or Peanut Butter chips (why not!)
Tips:
You can’t find any chocolate chips? Don’t worry! Here is a simple trick. You can use a chocolate bar like this one and cut it into small pieces. The added benefit is that it looks different then the regular ones, makes it more attractive’
Cooling
There are multiple ways to cool your chocolate chip cookies, most people let them cool off on the baking sheets. For those with small kitchen, that could be a problem when you have 4 of them lying around cooling off. Same issue happens to those who, like me, love doing more then one batch at a time. Transfering them to some cooling racks will help save space, specially if you use the tiered kind. You need to be carefull when you transfer them because they will be very soft freshly out of the oven.
The Perfect Chocolate chip cookies
Enough talking, now on to the good stuff!
The best of the best, the cream of the crop, soft, thick, tender and chewy, everything to love!
Chocolate chip cookies..
The staple of every baking recipe books, the favorite of every household.
- 1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (375 ml)
- 1 tsp baking soda (2.5 ml)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup melted unsalted butter (180 ml)
- 1 cup dark brown sugar (250 ml)
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 7.5 oz chocolate chips dark, semi-sweet or white
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Set up your over to have a rack in the middle. Preheat it to 375F (190C).
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Prepare 2 to 3 baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper. Do not use butter, oil or other grease on baking sheets.
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In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.
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In a separate bowl, or in the Stand Mixer bowl, whip unsalted butter and dark brown sugar until the mixture is creamy and uniform. Add egg and egg yolk and whip until mixture is uniform and aerated.
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Stir in dry ingredients and then chocolate chips.
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Cove the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour. Overnight is also a good option.
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Using an ice cream spoon, shape 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml) of cookie dough onto the baking sheets. Depending on the size of the cookies, place between 6 and 9 cookies on each baking sheet.
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Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly brown. They will still be very soft.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet or transfer them to a cooling rack.
Caution
Do not bake more than one sheet at a time! Only one sheet at the center of the oven.
