The best chocolate chip cookies

The best chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

(yields about 1 1/2 dozen)

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
14 tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 walnuts, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Melt 10 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat (I used a stainless steel skillet to easily see when the butter had begun to brown). Continue cooking and swirl pan until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma (about 1 to 3 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl and add remaining 4 tablespoons butter and stir until completely melted. Browning the butter is a key element of this recipe! It gives the cookies a great depth of flavor.

Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla to melted butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk, and whisk for about another 30 seconds until no sugar lumps remain. Here comes another key step! Let the mixture rest for 3 minutes, then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat the rest/whisk cycle two more times (totaling 10.5 minutes from the beginning of the first rest period). Doing this helps the sugar to better dissolve in the butter, helping the cookies to retain moisture during baking yielding soft, chewy cookies. The mixture should be thick, smooth, and shiny at this point.

Stir in flour with rubber spatula, mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Using 3 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll into balls and place 2 inches apart. I know the dough balls seem huge, but the bigger cookies also help to keep the cookies soft and chewy rather than crispy and dry. Bake one cookie sheet at a time, for 10 to 14 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking. My cookies averaged a baking time of about 12 minutes.