Thursday, February 18, 2010

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.



15 comments:

  1. Oh man oh man - all these chocolate chip cookies are makin me crazy! hehe

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  2. These look good. The CI are next on my list to try. Maybe also with the Brown Butter (hopefully NOT Black butter....)

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  3. Be still, my heart...these look AMAZING! What a great idea to make the NYT recipe with browned butter!

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  4. That cookie certainly looks perfect! I can't wait to see how your NYT/CI hybrid turns out.

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  5. Your cookies look perfect Sarah! I'm trying to resist the urge to run to my freezer and bake some off right now :)

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  6. I'll be interested in seeing how you combine the two recipes - yay for experimental CCCs!! I don't mind thin cookies, so this recipe was pretty good. I'd cut my chocolate amount and would increase next time (but I was glad I switched from semi- to bittersweet)

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  7. I need to try these. I am with you and Nancy, always on the hunt for the perfect ccc!

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  8. They look rich, decadent and delicious!

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  9. I was cruising the internet looking for what would occupy my baking time today, and I believe I just struck gold.

    I love brown butter too. Perhaps instead of drinking it, we can just bathe in it!

    Thanks for sharing this recipe!

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  10. Mine just came out of the oven. Delicious and amazing to say the least!

    Mine we quite thick. Perhaps it was the temp of your not browned butter? Mine was still cold as your recipe did not say softened.

    I definitely need to take these to work tomorrow to get them out of the house!

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  11. Seeing these perfect discs with their melty chocolate is seriously making me drool. Gotta get off my butt and try this ASAP.

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  12. These look simply scrumptious. I have never made "chocs" as we call the dearly loved chocolate chip cookie in my house with browned butter. Now I am quite curious. In the meantime, I'm grateful - after seeing your tempting pictures of these goodies - that I have some easy does it chocolate chip pan cookies waiting for me in the freezer. Excuse me while I go defrost a platefull....

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  13. These pics are amazing, I am salivating! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
    Cheers!

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  14. I can't wait to see your CI/NYT hybrid!!! Even though these look pretty amazing already. I'm with you on the "a smidge too thin".

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