This recipe for no-fail, low-maintenance, bakery-style chocolate chip cookies has literally been on my “to-blog” list for years. I used to whip them up for last minute occasions and just never got around to photographing them. Did you catch a glimpse of that beautiful Ice Blue Kitchenaid mixer in the background though? Yes, I finally did it! After five years of food blogging, I bought my dream stand mixer as a birthday gift to myself…because it was about time for my first big-girl purchase and I wasn’t going to wait around for a wedding registry. What better way to christen my new baby than to blog these perfectly thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies?!
My search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe ended with Baking Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen. What makes this recipe different from a lot of others is the melted butter and extra egg yolk. Melting the butter creates that chewy texture, and the extra egg yolk – “added fat” in the words of the Cook’s Illustrated editors – prevents the cookies from hardening. No overnight refrigeration or wild ingredients, just #science. (and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, because I’m a firm believer in chocolate chip cookies only being as good as the chocolate in them)
I plan on making lots more cookies in the near future because cookie dough is the most gratifying to watch a Kitchenaid work its magic on! If you haven’t jumped on the stand mixer bandwagon yet though, it’s nothing a little extra elbow grease can’t fix 🙂
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2/3 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Melt the butter in the microwave or over the stove top and let it cool.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Use an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to beat together the sugars and melted butter. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the egg + yolk and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Gradually incorporate the flour mixture in three additions. Mix just until the dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- At this point, the dough will be sticky and soft. Refrigerate for at least an 1hour and up to 24 hours before forming the cookies.
- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325ºF.
- Roll~¼ cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Place each half on the baking sheet jagged side up about 1 inch apart for smaller cookies.
- Bake ~7 minutes, rotate pans, and then bake another 7-8 minutes until the edges are just set. The middle should still still be soft and puffy, but will keep cooking when you remove them from the oven. Eventually, they will deflate and cool into a delicious chewy texture.
- Once cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. These can also be wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a freezer bag and frozen for up to 2 months.