Sometimes I hesitate to blog about baking or cooking because there’s already such a wealth of great info and inspiration available. But other times, I feel motivated by small insights that radically improve what I’m making. These powerful little tricks are worth repeating. I enjoy doing my part to get the word out. So if you love thin chocolate chip cookies with crispy edges and soft centers, I’m here to share 3 hacks for making the world’s best chocolate chip cookies.
- Melt your butter
- Chill your dough for at least 2 hours before baking
- Put the racks in the top and lower thirds of your oven and rotate the pans from top to bottom and back to front at the halfway point of your bake time.
I got these game-changers, along with the recipe, from the queen of cookie baking, Alice Medrich.
Ingredients:
2-1/4 C All Purpose Flour
1 tsp baking soda
16 Tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 C granulated sugar
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (I subbed in a bag of Health Bar pieces)
1 C chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Directions:
Set oven at 375F
Whisk together flour and baking soda and set aside
Cut butter into pieces and melt on stovetop
In a separate bowl, mix together the sugars. Stir in the melted butter. Using a hand mixer, beat in the salt, eggs, and vanilla until the ingredients are well mixed and glossy, about two minutes.
Stop the mixer. Continue the next step by hand: adding the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Incorporate flour, but don’t over mix.
Add chips and nuts. I substituted Health Bar toffee pieces instead of chocolate chips. I love how the caramel in the Heath Bar pieces melts and makes the cookies extra crispy and delicious. I typically don’t add nuts. But if you love them, add them!
Chill dough for at least 2 hours. Medrich recommends overnight, but I get great results if I just wait 2 hours. Remove dough from the refrigerator and let it soften up a bit before baking. I use a large spoon or small ice cream scoop to drop the dough onto the baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans between shelves and turning them front to back at the half-way mark.
Remove from oven. Cool for about a minute before transferring with a wide spatula onto a sheet of parchment.
Voila! Happy baking. I hope you enjoy these.
The Civilized Lunch Project 