Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

per-fect (adjective): having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.

Perfect is not a word I use very often, especially when it comes to myself and my creations. In most cases, perfection is a mythical ideal to which one strives yet can never fully attain. That is, however, until I stumbled upon this chocolate chip cookie recipe while playing around in the woods. In this instance of my use of the word “perfect,” this recipe is the ideal version suited to my taste buds. In my world, chocolate chip is the king of all cookies. Ones that are super crisp remind me of what you can find in the grocery store aisle, while those that fall apart from a mere whisper or a gentle breeze don’t really fit my definition of “cookie” (though tasty in their own category). My perfect cookie should have a crisp edge that gives way to a chewy inner ring protecting its delicate core… Is your glass of milk ready?

First, a few notes about the recipe: Most of the ingredients are listed by weight instead of volume. I have yet to go through and switch everything to cups and teaspoons and such, but here’s an online converter that can do the math for you. On a related topic, yes, I am aware that I mix metric and imperial units of measurement. (I came across this recipe by literally combining other recipes in my repertoire and making a few tweaks.) Lastly, it was originally written for large scale production and based off of pounds of butter, but I figured most wouldn’t need to make that many cookies at a time (though the dough freezes well), which will explain some of the odd amounts.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 lb. granulated sugar
• 1/2 lb. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 187.5 grams AP flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 150 grams chocolate chips

Procedure:

1. Cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
2. Scrap down edges of bowl and mix in egg and vanilla until fully incorporated.
3. Add remaining dry ingredients (excluding chocolate chips) and mix until cookie dough forms. Add chocolate chips at the end and stir until evenly distributed.
4. Bake in a preheated 350˚F oven for 12 minutes.* They will look puffed up when you pull them out of the oven, but will then collapse as they cool to resemble the pictures here.

*In my fascination with the king of cookies, I came across this article in the NY Times that discusses the chocolate chip cookie’s origins and such. But perhaps more interestingly, it brings up the note that one step most home bakers leave out of the equation is time. The experts recommend that you deny yourself gratification by letting the dough rest overnight, if not longer. The more time the dough has before being baked, the more the finished product develops notes of caramel and toffee. The recipe I have provided you with yields delicious results right away, but I urge you to put this trick to use at least once in your cookie baking lifetime. Also, if you’re the least bit nerdy (like me), there’s this cool TED video that talks about the chemistry of cookies. Enjoy!