Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few days ago, I had a decadent, fudgy brownie from The Farm at the Grove and since then, I've been on a major chocolate fix. I had some chocolate chips in the cupboard so I decided to make chocolate chip cookies.

My all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe requires the dough to chill for 24 to 36 hours, and unfortunately I wasn't sure I could wait that long, so I decided to try another recipe for thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies from the reliable folks at America's Test Kitchens. I found a recipe in The New Best Recipe cookbook with an interesting technique for forming the cookies. It may sound weird to you, but every single recipe, ingredient and technique has been tested and tried and all you have to do is follow their advice. Don't question it, just follow them ... like sheep. Don't worry, you'll be left with 18 fat and chewy cookies with hopefully your chocolate cravings held at bay.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from The New Best Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons or 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm

1 cup packed light or brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

sea salt (optional)

Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray. If you do a lot of baking, I highly recommend getting silpat mats. Your cookies will just slide off and clean up is so easy.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, extra yolk and vanilla until combined. It should look like this.

Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Next thing you know, you have cookie batter.

Here comes the interesting part. Roll a ¼ cup of the dough into a ball, slightly bigger than the size of a golf ball. Once you have about 18 cookies, take a ball of dough and split it into two, just pull the dough apart with your fingers, then flip them around and jam the halves back together so the ball is now jagged looking. The cookies should look like two sea anemones stuck together.

Place your sea anemones on the baking sheet. Be sure to space them a few inches apart so they don't stick together. Right before putting them into the oven, I like to sprinkle them with a bit of sea salt. The combo of sweet and salty is divine. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and puffy, about 15 mins. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets. See how chewy and delicious these look.

You know you made a successful batch of chocolate chip cookies when you see your dad (who rarely steps into the kitchen) take out a zip lock plastic bag and pack a bunch of cookies to take with him to the office. If only my recipes with chia seeds or ginger juice were met with the same enthusiasm ... These are clearly not that healthy, but papa choi seems to like them. Hopefully you will too!