In our house, the cookie dude is not me. My husband has taken on that role, and has tweaked and massaged his recipes to the point of perfection. This recipe is probably his crowing glory, though his peanut butter cookies are legendary.
For me, baking cookies is like making 3 dozen tiny cakes. I'd rather make one big one, and call it good.
Two ingredients make these cookies the powerhouse they are: browned butter and sea salt flakes.
If you are unfamiliar with how to brown butter, I suggest you take a look on YouTube for a tutorial. I could provide one here, but there are plenty online. The trick with browning butter is to refrain from going too far. It will go from nutty perfection to cremate faster than you can take a breath to say, "oops". The second it reaches your desired level of "brown", you must get it out of the pan you just heated it in, and make sure to use a silicone spatula to get all the browned bits up from the bottom and sides of the pan. If it goes past nutty perfection to cremate, it will smell burned. Don't use burned butter. It will ruin your cookies. Start over. Better to under brown your butter vs. over brown it in this recipe.
I suggest Land O' Lakes butter anytime you need to brown butter. It has less water content than less quality butters, and won't spatter. Both will work, but our best results with this recipe are a direct result of Land O' Lakes.
I also say this with every dessert recipe I share: don't substitute ingredients. It's dessert. It's not meant to be healthy or sugar-free. There are superb sugar-free recipes online. This isn't one that's meant to be sugar-free. *However*, I am always prepared for someone to create a sugar-free version of one of my recipes and prove me wrong. I welcome it! But if you want stellar results, follow the recipe as is.
Once you have your browned butter, it must cool to room temperature, completely. If it's still warmish, let it set until it's completely cool. Once it's completely cool, here's the recipe that will change the way you think chocolate chip cookies should taste. At the recommended size, this recipe makes approximately 5 dozen cookies:
Ingredients:
260 grams all-purpose flour*
1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
200 grams solidified browned butter, at room temperature (roughly 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 sticks, but weigh it)
300 grams dark brown sugar (light brown works, too, dark just makes for richer flavor)*
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet morsels
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (we use pecans)
Sea salt flakes
*If you are not using nuts, increase flour to 270 grams
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl, stir and set aside.
To a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add browned butter and sugars. Mix on high speed until smooth and creamy - about a minute. Reduce speed to medium, add egg + yolk and vanilla. Mix until just combined. Reduce speed to low and add chocolate chips and nuts and mix until just incorporated.
Roll into 1-1/4" balls, or use a 1 tablespoon scoop, slightly rounded (that's what the cookie dude in this house does), place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, and bake until *very* lightly golden around the bottom edges, approximately 11 minutes, but oven temps vary, so watch them.
Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with a few sea salt flakes.
Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool a bit more. Do yourself a favor, and eat them warm.
The cookie dude recommends scooping all the dough balls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, covering with plastic wrap, and freezing until solid. Once frozen solid, transfer dough balls to a large Ziploc bag, and store in the freezer. When you want cookies, bake just the number of dough balls you will eat fresh from the oven. No more day old cookies! I whole-heartedly concur with his recommendation!
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