Ooey-gooey cookies with rich chocolate chunks and a sprinkle of sea salt on top.
Behind real meals, chocolate chip cookies are one thing I thought I would never post on here. I mean everyone has their favorite family recipe, and honestly before I stumbled upon this recipe I made the Nestle Tollhouse recipe. This recipe has been frequently reposted on the blog circuit, so it is by no means super original. I made them the first time just out of curiosity and liked them so much that I made them again … and again… and by the third time I decided it was time to post them! These cookies really take chocolate chip cookies to another level … they bake up really big (about 3-4 inches in diameter) and the high quality chocolate makes them so rich and that sprinkle of sea salt on top gives you that salty balance to the sweetness of the cookie!
I used high quality chocolate wafers in these cookies … this is one of the key things that separates these chocolate chip cookies from your average chocolate chip cookie. Nestle chocolate chips are convenient and cost effective, but they are not quality chocolate… they add a lot of stuff to the chocolate chips to make them less temperamental to heat so they keep their chip shape when you bake them. I found these Guittard chocolate wafers at Whole Foods. If you cannot find them, you could also chop up baking chocolate bars. I use bittersweet chocolate because I like the rich dark chocolate taste … I made them once with semisweet chocolate and thought they were a bit too sweet.
The other great thing about this recipe is that you do not need an electric mixer … which I love because it makes it simplistic and of course… less dishes!
The great debate: crispy or soft chocolate chip cookies? I personally like them to be soft. If you like them soft too, roll the dough into balls, sprinkle with sea salt, and then throw them in the freezer for 15 minutes. This helps them stay puffed up a bit in the oven instead of flattening out right away. If you like them crispy though, skip the freezer and bake them immediately!
These cookies bake for about 12-14 minutes. Pull them out when they are crackled on the top and golden brown around the bottom. They will still be gooey if you cut them open, but as they cool they firm up a bit and aren’t gooey.
Enjoy!
- 1 cup salted butter, cubed
- 3¼ cups (420g) all-purpose flour
- 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups (300g) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 oz bittersweet (or semisweet*) chocolate discs/wafers
- sea salt
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter on the lowest heat possible. You do not want the butter to bubble or boil at all because it will loose moisture.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Pour the melted butter into a large bowl and whisk in the brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time into the wet ingredients.
- Whisk in the vanilla.
- Add in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate.
- Preheat the oven to 360°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into balls about 2-3 Tablespoons big** and place on the lined baking sheets. Since these cookies are so big leave plenty of space between them ... I only put 6 on a normal sized baking sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt.
- If you'd like them crispy, bake them immediately. If you like cookies a bit softer in the middle, freeze the balls of dough for 15-20 minutes. This keeps them from flattening out right when you put them in the oven.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until crackled on top and just golden brown (they may look a bit undercooked but once they cool, they will be perfect).
- Cool on the pan for a few minutes and then remove to a wire rack.
** I'm a bit of a perfectionist and don't want them to be different sizes so I actually weigh each cookie on a scale to make sure they are the same size. I like these cookies to be about 1¾ oz.
Adapted from Pretty Simple Sweet … Original Source: Seven Spoons
These are really good!