The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

This might be the most practical post I ever write--the best chocolate chip cookie ever. Since it is March 14th, I should have had the foresight to make a pie for Pi(e) Day.  But pi is all about circles, so I figure cookies work too. In a "round about way."  Hee hee.

I've made these dozens of times and they always turn out great. When I take them to an event, I almost never bring any extras home--they are usually all eaten up.

When it comes to desserts, you can't go wrong with cookies. Most are fairly easy to make, easy to transport, and really--who doesn't like a cookie?

And, at least here in the US, chocolate chip cookies are the undisputed king. Ever since the 1930s, when Ms. Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts had the flash of brilliance to add pieces of chocolate to her cookie dough--the world has been hooked. I had heard that chocolate accidentally fell into her dough and chocolate chip cookies were invented by a fortuitous accident--but according to Wikipedia--that is just a legend.

I have a shocking admission, though--I don't *love* all chocolate cookies. Let's be real--a less than perfect cookie is better than no cookie. But I am kind of picky about what I really want in a choco-chipper recipe. My perfect cookie has very specific boxes to tick. It can't be too spread out. Or too crunchy. Or too soft. Or too chewy.  And the chocolate chips need to be cooled down to solid--not all melty so that they get all over your fingers. No fresh out of the oven cookies for this girl!

It probably says something about my personality (that I'm crazy and hard to please?) I could make up one of those personality quizzes that you see on social media: "What is your Chocolate Chip Cookie Personality?" or "Who is your Chocolate Chip Cookie Twin?" However, those probably say more about what a person thinks about themselves than anything else. Sometimes I see people post results and...nope. I can't see a 99.9% resemblance with Channing Tatum. I understand, though--I just take those quizzes over and over until I get the result I want too.

It would be funny to make a quiz that, whatever you choose, you end up with a result that you wouldn't want.  "Your cookie-eating twin is Nellie Oleson!" "You are 99% Creed from the Office!"  "You got: Jar-Jar Binks!"

The secret to this cookie is in melting the butter and cooling it.  I don't know what kind of voodoo chemical magic occurs when you do that, but it makes all the difference.  And by cool, I mean solidified again.  Don't put it in when it is still liquid--the cookies will spread to a thinner-than-perfect thickness.  I think the folks at ATK meant for the butter to go in while in liquid state, but I've tried it both ways and much prefer it cold. I've also tried making these on a Silpat mat vs. parchment--and parchment is better.  On a Silpat they also spread more than I like.

These cookies have it all as far as I'm concerned.  They are chewy on the inside, browned on the outside, nice and big, just the right ratio of chocolate chips to cookie--they tick all the boxes.

As a cookie, they could definitely get 99.9% Channing Tatum--on the first try.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted slightly from America's Test Kitchen)

3 1/3 c flour
1/2 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
1 1/4 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c white sugar
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled back to solid in the fridge
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 T vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a big bowl.
2. Cream together the sugars and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Beat about 2 minutes, until pale and creamy.  Add in the whole eggs, yolks, and vanilla.  Beat about thirty seconds, until combined.
3. Add in the chocolate chips, mixing on low speed.
4. Use a 1/4 cup (you heard right! A whole 1/4 cup!! These are not wimpy little cookies!) and roll the dough into balls.  Place on parchment lined cookie trays--spacing them about 2.5 inches apart.
5. Bake for 14-17 minutes--checking to see when they are golden on the bottom but still puffy and soft in the middle.
6. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack and cool until the chocolate chips are set if you're a weirdo like me.  Or eat them warm if you're like most people and can appreciate gooey chocolate chips.