Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am not the biggest cookie lover in the world.  I find that, often, cookies fall short of what I want them to be.  They are either too cakey, too chewy, to crisp, or too soft.  If I was going to love a cookie, it would need to have a combination of those characteristics, ensuring that its textures juxtaposed yet complemented one another perfectly.  Enter the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie from Cook's Illustrated. 

This cookie is soft and chewy in the center yet crisp around the edges.  It is also chock-full of yummy toffee flavor thanks to browned butter and the method by which the dough is created.  Gooey chocolate chips push this cookie over the edge and make it truly craveable, even for a non-cookie-lover like me. 

All you need is a cup of cold milk, a warm throw, and a magazine (or Downton Abbey finale, anyone?) and you will be set for anything this winter weather we are having throws your way. 

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies- makes approximately 16 cookies (or 24 smaller cookies)

While I did not create this recipe, I post it here to have a record of it.  I have only slightly adapted it from the original created by Cook's Illustrated to whom I give full credit. 

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups good-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.  Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a medium skillet, melt 10 tablespoons of butter on medium high.  Once melted, swirl or stir the butter in the skillet until it reaches a dark golden brown color and smells nutty, 1-3 minutes more.  Pour the melted butter into a bowl and add the remaining butter to the melted butter.  

Add the sugars, salt, and vanilla to the bowl with the butter.  Add the egg and egg yolk, and whisk until fully combined, about 30 seconds. Set this mixture aside for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds more.  Repeat this process 2 more times until the butter mixture is smooth and silky.  Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.  Stir the chocolate chips into the dough.  

Remove the dough from the bowl 3 tablespoons (I use 1 1/2 tablespoons for a smaller cookie) at a time.  Arrange the dough 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.  Bake the cookies, 1 tray at a time, until they are puffy, golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 10-14 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through cooking.  Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  

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