Chocolate Chip cookies have been the bane of my baking life since the beginning of time. Well, those and pie crust. But finally I have mastered them. Bwahahaha. The pie crust is still winning. Argh. Chocolate chip cookies require a few things in order for me to love them. They must be soft. No crunch, not ever. They have to be rich, which is why I prefer all dark brown sugar. They have to be huge and they have to be easy. After a ridiculously frustrating 14 year hunt, I finally found a recipe that worked for me at Smells Like Dessert. I’ve made a few adjustments to the original recipe (more chocolate, way more chocolate). My husband has officially pronounced these the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Sweet, maybe he’ll buy me shoes. Anyhow.. NANEENANEEBOOBOO I win!!!!
First things first, melt all that fat-free butter (we can pretend, right?) and hand mix it in a bowl with the sugars. At no point during these cookies will you plug in a mixer. Don’t try to cream the butter and sugar either, the melting is where the magic happens, baby. Ignore the chipped nail polish on the sous chef. She’s 11.
Once the butter and sugars start to resemble something my darling children made in their diapers, add the egg yolks, whole eggs and vanilla. Give it a quick stir to make to make it all happy. Ignore the gross white egg stuff, I always do.
Once the wet ingredients have made nice with each other, dump in the bowl of flour, salt, and baking soda. This recipe is obviously very high-tech and difficult. Hang in there, I know you can do it! Stir until just mixed, we don’t want tough cookies. We have 5 of those in the house already. Prepare yourself for the massive chocolate insertion coming next. Massive, massive amounts of chocolate. I used a mix of chunks and chips, cause I’m making them and I can be a rebel. OK, it’s because that’s all I had in the house. Soldier Boy (aka the husband) likes really, really chocolaty cookies. That’s why I married him. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 325. Lick the spoon clean. Spend the next 17 minutes trying not to eat the dough. I pretend to put ingredients away while stealing dough. It reduces the guilt.Drop a 1/4 cup of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Did I mention these cookies are ginormous? Yeah, baby. DO NOT go all health conscious and try to reduce the size. Sometimes in life, size does matter, and this is one of those times. You’ll thank me later. This first batch of dough seems a bit soft so I popped the bowl into the freezer for the next round. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes (I usually call it a draw and go for 16). The cookies will not look done, don’t let them fool you. Chewy is key here, and these are oh so so soft and chewy and beautiful and gooey and … sigh. Hurry up oven.
Remove from oven. Try not to burn tongue as you woof one down that’s way too hot. I mentioned these were huge, right? Transfer to a cooling rack, dust a little flour on your nose to make it look like you worked really hard and wait for the cheers and gifts. MMMmmmm, cookies.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Smells Like Dessert
Makes 36 cookies.
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, melted
2 egg
2 egg yolk
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 cups chocolate chunks (depending on what I have on hand, I prefer the chunks though)
** Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. **
1. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. In large bowl, combine sugars. Add butter and stir with wooden spoon for a few seconds until well blended.
3. Stir in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Be sure that all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Add dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Gently stir in chocolate chips.
6. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes.
7. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls onto a greased baking sheet (9 cookies on the sheet, about half the dough).
8. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges–don’t even let them set in the middle.
9. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes to allow cookies to firm up.
10. Place cookies on wire rack to cool, and repeat with remaining dough.
My mouth is already watering…. I can’t wait to make these!
Melting does make better cookies, doesn’t it? Yours sound amazing.
And, why of course it’s fat-free!! 😉
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