Browned-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Well, hello, old friend. 

It's been ages since I posted on this blog, but I recently shared some glamor shots of my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough and the response was enormous. So many of you (at least seven people!!) were clamoring for the recipe that I decided it needed a permanent home on the internet. 

I'll skip the long and rambling prologue detailing the genesis of this recipe and just say that I started with recipes from three sources that I love (Smitten Kitchen, Sugar Spun Run, and America's Test Kitchen), pulled ideas and techniques from all three, and then proceeded to fiddle with ratios, secret ingredients, and types of sugar, butter, flour, and chocolate for the last six years. The corn starch is the key to the super soft dough and gooey cookies. Don't skip it! 

I won't be so bold as to say this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I do think it makes the very best cookie dough. So soft and silky! I know we're not supposed to eat the dough because of salmonella and stuff. But. I think you will find that it's impossible to resist. 

A few notes: 

• This recipe makes an admittedly enormous batch of cookies. But the dough stores beautifully, and I don't think anyone will be sad that you made too many cookies. You can wrap it into logs in plastic wrap, then keep those in an airtight bag or container in the fridge for up to six months. (Yeah, right.) Or, scoop into your preferred cookie size and freeze. 

• If you have it, please use unsalted butter. The amount of liquid in the butter varies between salted and unsalted; it's not just a flavor thing. And unsalted will work better here. Don't worry, we add plenty of salt to the dough.

• I love a blend of about one part milk chocolate chips to two parts dark and/or semi-sweet chips or chunks. All milk is too saccharine, but I love that flavor in the mix. For max fancy-bakery flavor, chop up a bar of chocolate, leaving a few big chunks, to add to your chocolate blend. 

• For an extra-buttery caramel flavor and even softer, chewy cookies, swap 2 tbsp of the brown sugar for 2 tbsp pancake syrup. Not real maple syrup: the fake stuff. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s magic. If you go for this variation, add the syrup along with the vanilla in step 3.

Browned-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ½ cup (3 sticks) butter, 1 cup browned 

2 ¼ cups brown sugar

1 cup sugar

3 tsp kosher salt (1 ½ tsp regular table salt)

4 tsp vanilla 

3 eggs + 2 egg yolks, at room temp

3 tsp cornstarch

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

5 ½  cups AP flour

2 ½  cups (or more, if the spirit moves you) chocolate chips, pb chips, and/or Reese’s Pieces

1. In a small pan, carefully brown two of the three sticks of butter. Browning is best done over low heat. The butter will start to bubble and pop as it simmers, then get quiet and less bubbly right before it really starts to brown. It does go from barely browned to burnt quite quickly, so it's better to under-brown slightly than to scorch it. Once the butter browns, immediately remove it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. (Tip: it's helpful to use a light-colored pan so you can really see the color of the butter.)

2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together browned butter (still warm!) and both sugars. Once combined, blend on high until creamy, smooth, a bit fluffy, and cooled—about two minutes, but more won't hurt. Scrape down the bowl. Add the remaining stick of butter and beat until fluffy.

3. Add eggs and extra yolks, mixing until well combined. Scrape down the bowl. Mix in salt and vanilla extract, beating until smooth and creamy.

4. Add cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and mix again until well combined. Scrape bowl and stir again until smooth.  

5. Gradually add flour by the cupful to the batter, mixing until just combined and scraping down the bowl after each addition. You don't want to overmix here, and the dough will get blended more evenly when incorporating the chocolate chips.

6. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least 30 minutes… if you can be patient. :) If not, your cookies will be a bit flatter, but still delicious. Chilling for 30 minutes or overnight will make for thicker, denser, chewier cookies. 

7. While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 375°F and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. Scoop chilled dough onto sheets, shaping each dough ball so it's taller than it is wide. (You can skip this finicky detail; it just—in theory—keeps them from spreading too thin and gives a chewier center.)

8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes for regular cookies; 16+ for big Levain-style cookies. They're ready to come out of the oven when the edges are showing some color but there are still some doughy-looking patches in the middles. 

A few more notes:

• I prefer the flavor of dark brown sugar here; it’s more caramelly. But you can use light brown. 

• You can skip browning the butter and just partially melt it if you're pressed for time. You want your butter to be about half melted, half slightly softened. 

• My favorite cheap vanilla is Baker’s Imitation Vanilla. ATK recommends it, and it really is good! I buy it by the case

• I have found that using high-quality flour makes a big difference in the flavor and texture of all my baked goods. I love King Arthur flours. You can swap in a cup or their white whole wheat or wheat flours in this recipe to add some extra nutty flavor. Just be sure to fluff up the flour before measuring, then scoop and sweep off any extra. You don't want to pack it firm and end up with dry cookies.

• I love using a blend of Hershey’s or Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips and Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate chips or semisweet chips from Costco. For a fancier twist, chop up some dark chocolate bars (I use the bittersweet Pound Plus bar from Trader Joe's). Mixing in some PB chips and Reese’s Pieces is also pretty darn delicious.