This is a great cookie. It is thick and chewy, with crisp edges. It is sturdy, but not cake like. I chose this recipe because it lists the ingredients in weight ~ which is the most accurate way to prepare a recipe. It came together very quickly while using few dishes – since everything is weighed, I just spooned it into a bowl. This is a Baking Illustrated recipes which I located at Brown Eyed Baker which I highly recommend checking out. *Update – this afternoon I had extra buttercream frosting from the cake, so I made some sandwich cookies too. Totally fat filled weekend, no doubt.

Be sure and follow the baking directions closely!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
• 1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar (I used light)
• ½ cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 – 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (Used a dark chocolate baking bar & semi-sweet chips)
  

Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 °.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface.

Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2½ inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. (It is essential that you do not let them brown too much in the oven because they will continue baking after you take them out.)

Cool the cookies on the sheets. (Make sure you follow this step – failure to do so will result in underbaked cookies.) Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

Yield: About 18 large cookies.

Check out this picture – I used a Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Baking Bar, and you can still read some of the letters!