Perfect Thick and chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: Cooks Illustrated

Have you ever made thick and chewy Chocolate chip cookies using a Cooks Illustrated recipe?  They actually have two different versions they came up with when trying to top the toll house. In both versions you use melted butter, increased brown sugar and vanilla along with an additional egg yoke. In attempts to imitate their confessed perfection, I must say I fell short on a couple of things. I didn’t use the chocolate chips they suggested; I used the toll house ones I had on hand. I didn’t use the dark brown sugar, again used what I had on hand which was the light.

Here are the ingredients I used. In the photo, baking soda is already added to the bowl of flour.

In their recipe they recommend browning the butter, which does add more time to this recipe. I’m going to retry their other version that doesn’t require that step and see if it really makes that much of a difference. To be honest, we are so use to the distinct flavor of the toll house it seemed like something was missing. I think it might be the extra teaspoon of vanilla that altered the flavor. I’m going to try 1-1/2 t. vanilla next time.

How you like your chocolate chip cookie is a personal preference. Some people like thin and crispy others like thick and chewy. I prefer the chewy. Now when it comes to pizza, I love a thin…. but that’s a whole different topic.

I don’t have the larger cookie scoop so I piled the dough in a 1/4 c. measuring utensil. The batch yielded exactly 1 doz. jumbo size cookies.

I was amazed at how tall and plump the cookies remained. They didn’t spread that much at all. I do think I should have cooked them a few minutes longer.  I cooked them about 14 minutes. I gave my husband a sample fresh from the oven and he really enjoyed them. Of course who doesn’t love a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie. 🙂 I will be making these again and following the recipe exactly, except the vanilla portion.

I plated these up for an event on a long white rectangular platter.

I do hope to revisit this recipe very soon with a few tweaks. I’ll post about the journey to our families perfect chocolate chip cookie. Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie?  Here is the recipe for the above cookie.

Perfect Chocolate chip cookies:

1- 3/4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 t. Baking Soda

14 T. unsalted butter ( 1-3/4 sticks)

1/2 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar

1 t. table salt

2 t. vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1-1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or chunks

3/4 c. pecans or walnuts (optional)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk flour and Baking Soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Heat 10 T. butter in a skillet over med-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is a dark brown and has a nutty aroma, 1-3 minutes. Transfer to a heat resistant bowl and stir in remaining 4 T. of butter until completely melted.

3. add both sugars,salt,and vanilla to the bowl with butter and stir until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture in smooth and no sugar lumps remain. Let mixture stand approx. 3 minutes and whisk again. Do this process a few times until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Add chocolate chips and nuts and combine.

4.Measure out dough and use a 24# cookie scoop or approx 3 T. If you want them a bit bigger use the method I shared above. Arrange 2 inches apart.

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft. 10-14 minutes. Rotate sheet half way through baking. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool cookies before serving.

Items I just purchased at 50 percent off that you might enjoy: The New Best recipe collection from Cook’s Illustrated (over 300 -5 star reviews) And the 4 T. cookie/ice cream  scoop. The recipe suggests the 3T.  but I like the cookies just a bit bigger. Check out the Amazon links below for more info.

Linking to Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam