I had that desire to cookie. I’ve already posted two recipes that I always make, but I wanted another option. Why? Cookies, right people. It doesn’t need much defense!
After falling in love with the cookie guide made by Tessa do Handle the Heat and all the science behind written by Kenji do Serious Eats.
The desire became even greater. Such a simple and basic recipe, but it can have many nuances.
I wish I had the time (and capacity) for all this dedication to detail a topic like this so well. And do that one beautiful text.
I used Kenji’s recipe as a base, which is very similar to the cookies I already made (Neiman Marcus Cookies). More or less sugar and its types, water/moisture and fat. The proportion was different in some cases, which influences the final texture.
I think the golden tip I picked up for myself and will keep forever: brown the butter. The famous peanut butter (learn more: Clarified Butter) in which the basic butter is “burned” and gets that hazelnut/toasted/burnt flavor.
That’s why, I think worth the title! I liked! And they say in the streets that the cookie is really good.
It might look good Interesting, but it made a difference. And quite big. The cookie is much more aromatic, just beautiful. The texture is crispy on the edges and slightly soft in the middle. To make the famous combination of cookies’n’cream there is no better option.
The Best Chocolate Cookies
Makes: 36 units; raw dough divided into ~35g/unit
- 230 g butter without salt
- 2 eggs
- 10 mL vanilla extract
- 70 g crystal Sugar
- 200 g Brown sugar
- 6 g refined salt
- 300 g wheat flour
- 4 g sodium bicarbonate
- 20 mL water (iced)
- 300 g milk chocolate (drops or chopped bar)
1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.
- In a high-sided pan, cook the butter until golden, to make golden-burnt butter (beurre noisette). It will bubble for a few minutes and then stop. Transfer to a clean container that can withstand temperature, let it cool. The yield should be around 182g.
- In the bowl of a mixer, add the crystal sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat until creamy, use the paddle attachment.
- Add the cold butter (it should still be liquid), brown sugar and salt. Beat for 1 minute, if the sugar is too grainy, beat a few seconds longer.
- Add the flour and baking soda, beating just to combine. Finally, add water little by little.
- Then the chocolate, mix well. The dough is really creamy.
- To be able to divide the dough, leave it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. The ideal is to let the dough rest overnight for the flavors to develop.
- Divide the dough into balls weighing 33-35g/each. Slightly flatten each ball for shorter cookies. They can now be baked with chilled dough or stored in the freezer. Frozen cookies can be baked directly without needing to thaw.
- Heat the oven to 180ºC, line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Distribute 6 cookies per baking sheet, leaving spaces. They will spread.
- Bake the 32g cookies for 15-16 minutes. 15g: 7-8 minutes; 10g: 5-6 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and wait 3-4 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Butter: if you use salted butter, the burning yield will be lower. So, you will have to use more butter. And yes, you need to burn the butter. It’s the key difference!
- Vanilla: it could be the essence, the focus is the chocolate.
- Chocolate: it could be the chopped bar too. With milk or semisweet. The bakeable type withstands the oven temperature without burning as quickly.
- Water: it may or may not be necessary, it will depend on the flour, butter and brown sugar. Generally, you don’t need to.
