Everyone's Favorite Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

It was midterms week(s?) in October, and the roommate was a bit stressed. She mentioned wanting cookies and I thought, "Hey, I could make that," and I always use the same recipe and it's been a hit. The recipe I'm referring to is posted here at allrecipes. I break it down into 'parts a, b and c' to keep things in order in my head. Click the jump to see more!

Part A
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
Part B
* 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup white sugar
Part C
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1 egg
* 1 egg yolk
Finally:
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* oven at 325F

And so I always make the recipe in steps of A + (B + C), for all the math people out there. A little bit of nerdiness leaking out of me. It simply means that you mix parts B and C of the recipe together before you mix it in with A (as opposed to adding everything down the ingredients list into the flour from the start).

The recipe yeilds 18 cookies but I somehow always make them into 24. Making them into 18 instead of 24 would probably give you a chewier, puffier cookie. These cookies don't spread too much, which I love, because they do come out chewy and delicious. Just make them a little bigger than you feel is necessary.




You'll need two separate bowls. (Parts A & B! Color coordinated :])


Creaming butter + sugars. I always cheat and melt my butter a little in the microwave so it's soft and easier to cream. For this recipe I keep it in there for about 15-20 seconds and let it sit in the bowl and melt that way. I would just advise against completely melting the butter into liquidy butter, it doesn't make for a nice consistency. And a using a fork helps the creaming process, especially if your butter is soft enough to just press and flatten.


I'll be honest. I also wanted to make cookies to test out my egg separator. I bought it as part of a set from Macy's for $8, which also came with 2/3 and 3/4 cups too. So I'm a little in love with the set. Here's a picture for the curious. I could see this being useful when I make key lime pie.


So here's adding Part C (egg, egg yolk, vanilla) into Part B. Mix well until it's a gooey, thick mess (more thick, less gooey).


Parts B+C into A! It's good to either love to use your hands or have a friend who loves using their hands to help at this stage.



Adding the chips comes last. The recipe calls for 2 cups chocolate chips but I usually only add a little more than 1 cup since I feel 2 cups is a bit much, but it's really personal taste. I try to eyeball it most of the time.


Pre and post baking! They only stay in the oven for about 15-18 minutes, so it's not a long wait. The most important thing I've learned all the times I've made these cookies is to take the cookies out when their edges are slighty browned, because they'll still cook a bit while they're cooling. The gooey insides make it so hard to wait though.


Yummy! Midterms might not be so bad after all.