Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love me some chewy chocolate chip cookies. I could eat a whole batch all by myself, especially just out of the oven. I probably wouldn't even share with my kids.

However, I've tried so many different recipes for "world famous" or "the best" chocolate chip cookies and the results were always the same - dry, crispy cookies. Sure, they were okay warm out of the oven, but once they cooled down I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, if you love crispy cookies good for you. I'm just not a fan. Unless they're Oreos and I can dip them in milk.

**As a tip, if you ever have dry, crispy, or stale cookies, don't throw them out! Freeze them until you need a pie crust. Then throw them in a food processor and pulse until fine. Add some melted butter, just enough to hold cookie crumbs together. It makes a fantastic chocolate cookie crust as a replacement for graham cracker crusts. Try it with chocolate pudding pie or cheesecake!***

I think I finally found the recipe. The cookies are slightly crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. My fave! I stole it from Our Best Bites who stole it from Cooks Illustrated. The secret, or at least what I think is the secret, is melted butter (no worrying about actually thinking ahead of time to leave the butter out overnight!) and an additional egg yolk. Now I don't know the science behind this, but this is what Cooks Illustrated said:

"Most cookies start with creamed butter. Creaming incorporates air into the dough, resulting in an undesirable (in these cookies) lightness. Our thoughts sifted to chewy brownies and blondies, both of which typically begin with melted butter. We tried both creamed and melted butter and found that melted butter did indeed give us the dense, chewy texture that we were after.

We turned to the one factor that we hadn’t yet fully examined–the egg factor–and found that one whole egg plus one egg yolk keeps the cookies soft and pliable hours after emerging from the oven. Also, cooling the cookies directly on the cookie sheet promotes the soft, chewy texture. Finally, we had a thick, chewy chocolate-chip cookie that could rival any gourmet bakery’s."

So, yeah, what they said. However it works, I love it. I totally agree with the "bakery" cookie comment, no more paying $2 for a bakery cookie, I can make my own thank you!

Start with these ingredients - I chose to use half semi-sweet chips and half peanut butter chips in my cookies. Next time I'm using Nestle's new dark chocolate chips. I'm super excited to try them! Speaking of trying, you might notice my chocolate chip bag is opened. I'm a chocoholic, I may or may not have tried a few prior to cookie making.

Start adding the sugar and brown sugar in your mixing bowl. The add the melted butter.

Give it a good stir and add in the eggs and vanilla (I never measure, a little extra vanilla never hurt anyone).

Gradually add the pre-measured dry ingredients. Mix it all together.

Finally, add your chocolate (and peanut butter) chips, along with toasted almonds, if desired. And I usually desire them, I love the little crunch they give the chewy cookies, but not when I have peanut butter chips in the mix.

Here's another tip from Cook's Illustrated.

"Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Each half will have a jagged surface where it was ripped from the other; rotate each half up so the jagged surface faced the ceiling and press the halves back into one ball so that the top surface remains jagged. (The nooks and crannies you have created will give the baked cookies an attractive and somewhat rough, uneven appearance.) Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, about 9 balls per sheet. "

If you want to make large, bakery style cookies, put the two halves back together as Cook's suggests. For smaller cookies (portion control!) just keep the two halves apart. It looks like this:

Then bake! The cookies are done when the bottoms are golden brown. The tops will appear a little underdone, but don't worry, they will finish cooking as they cool. If you overbake then you're going to get crispy cookies, which defeats the purpose of making chewy cookies :)

And eat, eat, eat...or share if you'd like!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
courtesy Our Best Bites - love them!

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I prefer Nestle's dark chocolate chips and I just throw in the whole bag - I'm hoping for Target to clearance them so I can hoard the whole stock)

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.
• With an electric mixer, thoroughly blend the butter and two sugars together. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
• Take about 1/4 C dough and form into a ball. Break ball in half and place dough on cookie sheet with broken edge facing up (or just use a standard sized cookie scoop). Bake until cookies are set around outer edges start to hardenyet centers are still soft and puffy, 10-13 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store inairtight container.