My Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - Cookie Chronicles

After three weeks and five of the most popular recipes around it is time for me to put my money where my mouth is and give you my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Each of the test recipes were delicious and I would definitely make them all again, but in each recipe there was that perfect something that I loved. For my final recipe, my ‘ultimate’ if you want, I thought I would take these elements, smoosh them together and see if I could make the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Now I should probably say there is no such thing as the one perfect recipe, this just happens to be my personal favourite recipe as it has everything I love in a chocolate chip cookie. It has crisp edges but a soft and ever so slightly chewy centre, a lot of chocolate, a good balance of sweet and salty and dough that has a good flavour of its own. All of these elements are subjective but they are what I look for in my perfect cookie. When it comes to chocolate I was surprisingly stuck over my choice. Should I use chips or wafers, the chocolate style I was testing throughout this process? I expected this to be an easy choice, going with my bias and regular use of the wafers but the chips make a wonderful cookie too and I think this comes down to exposure to bad chocolate chips in the past. Over the past eight years of working in food the only chocolate chips I have had easy access to were low quality chocolate, bulked out with vegetable oil, im talking cheap supermarket chocolate chips. This style of ‘chocolate’ (not sure chocolate made with vegetable fat can actually be legally called chocolate) is the stuff I have told you to avoid because it doesn’t melt, has a waxy taste and just work properly when it comes to baking. Thankfully Guittard, who I partnered with to create this series, make a chocolate chip that is nothing but chocolate, pure and simple. There is a difference between chips and wafers and it is important to know the difference. Traditionally chocolate chips, made only of chocolate, are made with less or no added cocoa butter to make the chocolate thicker so that it holds it shape when manufactured, whereas wafers have more added cocoa butter so they fall flat when produced. This simple difference will affect the outcome of the recipe making slight differences to each recipe. The main difference I found when using chips in this recipe is that the cookie spreads a little less than when made with wafers, but unlike poor quality chips that don’t actually melt during baking these still create those beautiful pockets of melted chocolate.

When it comes to method for this cookie I basically stayed with the classic drop cookie style of the original Toll House recipe and the method used in Tara O’Brady and Bon Appetit’s recipe as it was satisfyingly simple and resulted in a delicious cookie. So melted butter it is, but taking a tip from Alison Roman we are using salted butter and taking it one step further like Bon Appetit we are going to brown it too, because why not! I also threw in Sarah Kieffer’s pan banging method because the resulting ripples in the baked cookie add texture and make for wonderful crips edges. When it comes to ingredients we are staying classic the only addition is a couple egg yolks which make for an even fudgier dough. 

My Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

225g salted butter, diced
350g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
200g light brown muscavado sugar
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
340g dark chocolate (I use Guittard 66% wafers or 63% chips)
Flaked sea salt, for sprinkling

Start by preparing the chocolate. Take about a 1/4-1/3 of the chocolate and roughly chop to break up in uneven small chunks.

To make the cookie dough we first need to brown the butter. Place the butter into a saucepan and place over medium heat and cook until first the milk solids separate, then the mixture foams, and then the milk solids brown. With salted butter you need to stir the butter as it browns to make sure the salt doesn’t clump with the milk solids, you’ll also find that the foaming doesn’t dissipate quickly so you wont be able to see the browning as easily, so watch very carefully to make sure the butter doesn’t burn.

Pour the butter into a large bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes before whisking in the sugars. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, whisking until smooth and combined. Whisk in the vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry goods then add to the butter mixture and using a spatula or wooden spoon, mix together just until combined, there should be the odd bit of flour showing throughout the dough. Add the chocolate and mix until evenly distributed. Cover the dough with clingfilm and refrigerate for about 4 hours or until the dough is firm but not rock solid, you should still be able to scoop out portions without too much effort. 

When almost ready to bake preheat the oven to 180C (170C fan) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Form balls of cookie dough into portions roughly 85g. You can do this with a cookie scoop or you can roll in your hands. Place the cookies onto the baking sheets, a couple inches apart and sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. 

Bake in the preheated oven for about 16-18 minutes or until golden brown at the edges but still a little paler and soft in the middle. After baking for 10 minutes remove the tray from the oven and firm bang on the work surface to collapse the cookie. Repeat this process every two minutes or so, creating a ripples effect at the edges of the cookie (this adds great texture on the finished cookies). Once baked allow to cool on the baking sheets for about 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Kept in a sealed container these cookies will keep for up to 5 days but personally I think these are best on the first couple days when the texture will be at its best. 

Note: this recipe was developed in metric measurements and with UK ingredients so if making in the US I would suggest making this with extra large eggs and european style high fat butter.

For those asking where Guittard chocolate is available in the UK it is currently stocked by Ocado, Whole Foods, Lakeland, Sous Chef and M&S

Bon Appetit Brown Butter and Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies - Cookie Chronicles

Its the final week of the Cookie Chronicles and for todays recipe we are going a little controversial and talking mix-ins. Do you like your chocolate chip cookies like I do? Unadulterated with nothing more than lots of glorious dark chocolate? Or do you like it with nuts, butterscotch, pretzels and whatever else you might fancy throwing in? If your in the latter camp you might like this recipe as instead of the classic chocolate it also adds in a handful of toffee, in the form of a chocolate coated toffee bar (Skor in the US and I used Daim here in the UK). I adore toffee so I was excited about this recipe. 

Whilst the recipe was published and popularised by Bon Appetit magazine it was actually a user submitted recipe, sent in by Kate Davis, you can follow her on Instagram here. 

The Breakdown

Other than the toffee there are a few key differences to the ingredients in this recipe. It uses browned butter, adding a nutty note to the dough. It also uses dark brown sugar which should add a lot more molasses flavour, which is never a bad thing.

Makes 20

2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter
2 cups (280g) all-purpose/plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup packed (220g) dark brown sugar
1/3 cup (65g) granulated/caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 toffee bars (Skor, Daim, Heath etc) chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafers, 72% cocoa
Flaky sea salt

Place the butter into a saucepan and set over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the butter foams and then browns, about 5-8 minutes. Pour the butter into a large bowl and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile mix together the flour, baking soda and salt

Add the sugars into the bowl with the butter and whisk together for a few minutes to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until the mixture lightens and starts to thicken. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just incorporated. Finally add the chocolate and the toffee bar pieces, mixing just to incorporate. 

Set the dough aside for about 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate, the dough will be fairly loose to start with but as it sits it will thicken. 

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C) and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2 ounce ice cream scoop portion out cookies and place on the baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt.

Bake for about 9-11 minutes or until the edges are golden brown but the centres still a little soft. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Result
First off, these cookies are fabulous, undeniably delicious and very easy to make. Saying that I find the dark brown sugar a little overwhelming for a chocolate chip cookie and it makes tasting the toffee and little hard. Now to give the recipe its credit, this is an American recipe and I believe this might be more down to the fact that British dark brown sugar is a little stronger in molasses, my cookies looked quite a bit darker than the ones in the magazine, so take that with a pinch of salt. I always love brown butter in a recipe so this is definitely a winning element for me. I would 100% make these again, I am thinking a version made with pretzels and stem ginger would be amazing.

Alison Romans Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Recipe - Cookie Chronicles

How could I do a series on chocolate chip cookies in 2018 and not include what has to be the most popular baking recipe of the past year! Yes today we are talking Alison Roman’s Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread. Now, it may be a little unfair including this recipe as it doesn’t really fall into the same style category as the rest of the chocolate chip cookies in the line-up but I thought there was still plenty we could learn from a cookie of a different sort and the point of this series was to test drive those recipes that have a big following online and what better recipe for that criteria than this. The reason this is different from the rest is of course that is a shortbread style dough. Most chocolate chip cookies tend to be drop cookies, made from a relatively soft dough that can be scooped or spooned from the bowl to the baking tray, things like oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodles and of course our beloved chocolate chip cookies. Yet Alison’s recipe fulfils many of the requirements, uses many the same ingredients and is just as easy to make.

The Breakdown

Alison’s recipe is a fairly classic shortbread style cookie, although less sweet than some and it also uses salted butter, which is definitely less common in baking. The flavour of this butter, according to Alison, has an ever so slightly funky almost fermented flavour and with the salt generally being evenly distributed throughout the butter, and therefore the cookie, the sense of a better flavoured dough should be heightened. When it comes to sugars it still uses a mix of white and brown sugar although the brown sugar is minimal but it is there as a nod to chocolate chip cookies and that more caramel like flavour it lends to a classic cookie. I have gone with using the chocolate chips, roughly chopped so that we get some small shards and some chunks, I also think the slightly smaller form of the chips will make slicing these cookies easier than with bigger pieces. So beyond the flavouring of the dough this recipe also builds in a lot of texture because before the dough is sliced it is rolled in demerara sugar which gives a great crunch to the finished cookie.

Alison Roman’s Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
From her book - Dining In

2 1/4 sticks (255g) cold salted butter, diced
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (55g) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups (325g) all-purpose/plain flour
6 ounces (170g) dark chocolate (I used Guittard 63% chocolate chips, roughly chopped)
1 large egg
Demerara sugar, for rolling
flaked sea salt, for sprinkling

To make the cookie dough place the butter and sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat together for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. If using an electric hand mixer or doing this with a wooden spoon this will take longer, just make suer the texture is light and fluffy or the finished dough will be hard to handle and likely to crumble when cut. 

Add the vanilla to the butter mixture and beat for 30 seconds to combine. Add the flour in one go and mix on low speed, just until the dough is combined. You want to be careful about over mixing the dough at this stage as it will make the cookies tough and chewy. Add the roughly chopped chocolate and mix briefly just to evenly distribute throughout the dough. 

Tip the dough out onto the work surface and use your hands to gently bring together into a ball. A note to those not used to baking this type of cookie. Sometimes not all the flour gets easily incorporated and this can lead to a crumbly hard to handle dough. If when the dough is removed from the bowl there are dry patches use your hands to briefly work the dough a little until a more uniform texture. 

Cut the dough into two roughly equal pieces and use your hands to form into rough sausage shapes, about 2 - 2 1/4 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in clingfilm and refrigerate for two hours before baking

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Remove the logs from the fridge and discard the clingfilm. Brush the dough lightly with a little beaten egg, just moistening the edge. Roll the logs in demerara sugar pressing into the dough.

Use a thin sharp knife to cut the logs of dough into cookies about 1/2 inch thick. Place onto the prepared baking sheets, an inch or so apart. Sprinkle each cookie with a little flaked sea salt and bake in the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes until just starting to turn golden around the edges. Let cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Kept in a sealed container these cookies will keep for up to 5 days. 

Result

As I said these are not what I think of when I think chocolate chip cookie, but that doesn’t matter as they are delicious and very easy to make. I love the flavour the salted butter gives the dough and the balance of sweet and salty is perfect. I am a big fan of using demerara sugar to add texture so the edge of this cookie is my favourite part.

Tara O Brady's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Another week, another bunch of recipes to test for the Cookie Chronicles. First up this week is another extremely popular recipe, this time from another favourite of mine Tara O’Brady, from her beautiful book Seven Spoons. Her approach to the chocolate chip cookie is very much appreciated because of it's pure simplicity. When it comes to equipment nothing more than a whisk, wooden spoon and a mixing bowl is needed and the time to make the recipe is dangerously fast, you could whip up a batch of these cookies in less time then it would take to eat the whole batch! Because the butter is melted this cookie is incredibly quick and easy to bring together but tastes absolutely wonderful, no wonder this recipe has done so well. I have a recipe that I currently rely on to fulfil my cookie cravings but I have a funny feeling this might replace that, it's so simple to make and so satisfying. 

The Breakdown

This is definitely the easiest recipe I have tested for this series so far and this comes using melted butter, it makes the process of making this recipe incredibly quick and simple, no electricity needed (well apart from the oven). The sugar ratio leans heavily towards the light brown sugar meaning this recipe has a real caramel note to it but it still feels balanced and it blends perfectly with the chocolate. It also uses a little more vanilla than some recipes, that always featured 1 tsp, which I think definitely gave the dough a little more flavour. 

1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, diced
3 1/4 cups (415g) all-purpose/plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (320g) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated/caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
12 ounces (340g) dark chocolate (I used Guittard 66% wafers)
Flaked sea salt, for sprinkling

Result

You can probably tell from everything above that I loved this recipes its incredibly simple to make and yields a delicious fairly classic take on the chocolate chip cookie, great texture, great flavour and just the simplest recipe going.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan set over low heat melt the butter. You don’t want to brown the butter at all so keep the heat as low as it will go.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl pour the melted butter and into that whisk the sugars. It will take a little elbow grease and at first it might look a little separated but give the mixture a whisk for a minute or so and it will smooth out. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until fully combined into the butter mixture. Mix in the vanilla then switch out the whisk for a wooden spoon or spatula. Add the dry ingredients and mix together just until everything is combined. Don’t worry if there is a few small spots of flour, as this will be mixed in when the chocolate is added. Speaking of which, add the chocolate. Mix until evenly distributed in the dough. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and let the dough rest in the fridge for 10-15 minutes, or overnight. 

Form the cookies into balls roughly 3 tablespoons big, leaving a couple inches between each cookie. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-14 minutes until slightly golden and a little bit cracked. 

Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep if kept in a sealed container for up to a week.