To all you cookie lovers out there, you know as well as I do how hard it is to find or make the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Is there anything more disappointing than biting into one and finding it too dry or too moist, too sweet or too bland, too chocolaty or not chocolaty enough? It’s true, creating the perfect chocolate chip cookie comes down to science, luck, and definitely a lot of failed attempts.
I used to think my dad’s chocolate chip cookie recipe was the best, but that was when I was 10 and didn’t grimace at the thought of having a pound of Crisco in my cookies. (My dad, bless him, made chocolate chip cookies for years using the recipe found on the side of a Crisco can).
I’ve attempted dozens of recipes, all which were forgettable, but it wasn’t until today that the cookie God’s shone down on me and led me to the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe – in fact – the last chocolate chip cookie recipe I believe I will ever need. I got it from Ashley, the creator of Not Without Salt, and included it below. Consider this your lucky day!
THE Chocolate Chip Cookie
2 sticks butter (8 oz)
1/4 cup white sugar (2 oz )
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (2 oz )
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed (12 oz )
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (1/4 oz)
3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour (1 lb. )
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 lb. chocolate (use the best quality chocolate you can afford. With a serrated knife cut chocolate chunks roughly 1/2 inch)
1/2 teaspoon good quality salt, for sprinkling on top before baking
Cream the butter and the sugars until very light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes on medium high. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate.
If you so choose, and I do recommend that you do, sprinkle a very fine dusting of good quality sea salt. Fleur de Sel or Murray River Pink Salt are my recommendations.
Bake at 360* for 12 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.
*I baked one tray of 12 cookies and rolled four 10″ logs out of the left over dough. I then froze two and refrigerated the other two. I like to bake my cookies the moment the craving hits, so I only use a little at a time to always get the out-of-the-oven warm and gooey taste. (It also stops me from eating 50 cookies at once!)