Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies?

I know I just posted chocolate chip cookies a couple days ago, but here are some more for you. These come from Cook's Illustrated, and were brought to my attention by Nancy. As soon as I heard about them I had to make them. Why? They contain brown butter.

I have made my love known many times for all things brown butter, though for some inexplicable reason, I have never made chocolate chip cookies with it. Oh I've considered doing it several times, but I just never did. I am kicking myself now for not doing it sooner. I will have to make up for lost time.

Maybe the reason I waited so long was because I knew that I would love brown butter chocolate chip cookies so much that I would want to make nothing else and eat nothing else until the end of time. That's pretty much what has happened. If one could subsist on cookies alone, I would be tempted.

I'm giddy just thinking about them.

Now, are they perfect as the name of the recipe suggests? Weeeeelll, almost. The flavor is, without a doubt, the flavor of perfection. The brown butter is much more subtle than I thought it would be, but then it is battling 2 teaspoons of vanilla as well as dark brown sugar for flavor domination. That said, it is unmistakably there. It adds a richness and a nuttiness that only comes from the magic that is brown butter. I would drink the stuff if I didn't think I would instantaneously and simultaneously gain 35 pounds and have a heart attack. There is just the right amount of chocolate in these to ensure that every bite is perfectly balanced between chocolate and cookie, an elusive ratio. The edges are perfectly crispy and the centers chewy, though as with Dorie's chocolate chip cookies, they are just a mite too thin for me.

I think the next thing to do is try the New York Times recipe with brown butter, as that is the only version I've ever made that has the texture and thickness that I prefer in a chocolate chip cookie. I'll let you know how it goes.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Cook's Illustrated, May/June 2009

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) unbleached white flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar

3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

6 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large heat-proof bowl, combine 10 tablespoons browned butter and 4 tablespoons butter, stirring until un-browned butter is completely melted. Add sugars, salt and vanilla, whisking until fully combined. Add egg and egg yolk and whisk for about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat this twice more. Mixture should be thick, smooth and shiny. Add flour and baking soda, and using a rubber spatula, stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks. Form into balls about 1 1/4 inch in diameter, or 1.25 ounces. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges have set, but the centers are still soft. Cool cookies completely on baking sheet.