Cookie Perfection

 
Chocolate chip cookies are very personal.  Everyone seems to have their own idea about what a "perfect" chocolate chip cookie should look, smell and taste like.  Most adults can trace their favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe back to their childhood.   Some people swear by the fact that they need nuts or oats to make them great.  Other people like their cookies with a simple scattering of chocolate chips.  There are people who like their cookies thin and crispy and others who prefer thick and gooey.  That doesn't even begin to approach the debate about the best chocolate to put into the perfect cookie. 

I've baked a lot of different chocolate chip recipes and I've tasted a lot of different cookies - I have yet to decide which is my favorite.  The way I look at it, as long as I'm still on the search for my favorite chocolate chip cookie - I can continue to sample the contenders.  This recipe is one that I make quite often and in my opinion - it's pretty close to perfect.   

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Melt 10 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet until dark golden brown.  Pour over the remaining butter in the bowl of a standing mixer.  Stir until melted.  Add sugars, salt and vanilla.  Mix with whisk attachment until blended.  Add egg and yolk.  Whisk 30 seconds.  Let mixture stand for 3 minutes.  Whisk another 30 seconds.  Repeat standing and mixing two more times.  Remove mixer bowl from stand and stir in dry ingredients with a spatula.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Use a cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough onto silpat lined baking sheets.  Bake 10 minutes at 375.

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I adapted this chocolate chip cookie from a recipe that I found in Cooks Illustrated magazine.  It's made with browned butter and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips.  These are my favorite chocolate chips - they're huge and they're rich with dark chocolate flavor.

Bon Appetit!