Out of everything that I’ve learned how to bake over the last few years, cookies have definitely been the trickiest for me. I just could never get them to come out right! Either they would stay as balls, be crumbly or have greasy tops or just not bake properly. It’s taken me a while to figure them out but now that I have…oh boy I just can’t stop making cookies 😀
Okay so there’s a few things I want to talk about that I believe is super important in cookie making. Here are a few tips I’ve learned that can take an okay cookie to an extraordinary cookie:
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl: I used to sometimes mix everything in the same bowl on top of the wet ingredients but I’ve noticed a big difference in the baked cookies when I mix the dry ingredients separately and then add to the batter in two batches whisking as little as possible to prevent the cookies becoming tough.
- Use plenty of soft brown sugar: this is essential in making the cookies’ structure as well as keeping them soft. For a boost in flavour use dark brown sugar instead of light, this gives a wonderful caramel-like undertone to the cookies.
- Add in lots of vanilla flavour along with the egg: this gives that classic cookie taste and pairs wonderfully with the chocolate.
- Use two types of chocolate: chips or chunks can be used but I love the taste of mixing chocolates. I like semi sweet chunks with some milk chocolate chips 🙂 the ultimate combo!
- Chill chill chill the dough. Even if the recipe doesn’t call for it, I highly recommend chilling the dough. This makes a perfectly compact cookie as well as enhancing the flavours greatly.
In my opinion all cookies should be nice and thick except for chocolate chip cookies. To me, chocolate chip cookies should be on the thinner side and super chew. I also love them loaded with chocolate chips.
This task proved to be harder then I thought but I am so happy with how the cookies have turned out. They’re my ultimate dream chocolate chip cookie and this is what I did to achieve them:
- Melted butter instead of creamed butter: this makes the cookies dense, soft and very chewy. The trick about using melted butter is to make sure you don’t melt it too long, like *just* melted then whisk it really well with the sugars until it is completely combined and you no longer see an oily film on the sides of the bowl. You’ll notice it will have thickened and paled slightly.
- Have the sugars ready in a bowl then pour the warm butter directly on top without letting it cool. The heat from the butter sort of warms the sugars which helps to give those lovely crinkly tops.
- Egg yolks only, no whites: this is a really neat trick to ensure a soft and tender cookie. You don’t need the whites and there’s enough fat in the yolks to make the cookies nice and rich.
- Like I mentioned above, add the flour in two batches barely whisking it in. Leave some streaks of flour showing when you add in the chips so that by the time you’re done folding, it’ll all be combined.
- These cookies must be chilled or frozen before baking. I designed these cookies to flatten while baking so they will spread in the oven so plz plz do not bake them unless they’ve been chilled. If you like thicker cookies then bake them straight from the freezer without thawing 😉
To get that beautiful chocolate chippy top, push some chocolate chips on the tops of the cookie dough after you have rolled them into balls. I just push about 4 or 5 on to the tops of each ball right before I put them into the oven. They come out so pretty!
I am so proud of these cookies and I hope you guys love them as much as I do <3
Remember to tag me with all your dutch baker bakes @dutchbakerblog on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter :
Make em big 😉 in my oven I have to flatten them even when I use just 1 cup + 2 tblsps flour! but they are ohh so very good! 😉
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Ingredients
1/2 cup (100 gms) softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 gms) soft light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 gms) + 1 tablespoon white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (125 gms) + 2 tablespoons or 1 1/4 cups/150 gms all purpose flour (see directions below)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch/cornflour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt, more if desired
3/4 cups chocolate chips, more or less as desired
Directions
- In a large bowl, add both of the sugars and whisk a little to combined. Doesn’t have to be well combined.
In a saucepan (or microwave) add the butter and melt halfway, just until it has started to melt but you should still be able to see chunks of butter. Take off heat and whisk until the rest of the butter melts then immediately pour on top of the sugars. - Whisk for about a minute or two until the mixture is well combined, thickened and paled slightly in colour. It will start off being crumbly and looking greasy as if it is separating but it WILL come together, just keep whisking. You’ll know when it’s ready if your whisk leaves some streaks/lines behind when stirred.
- Add in the yolks and vanilla and whisk until just combined. Set this mixture aside for about 5 minutes while you prepare the dry mix.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt until very well combined. Start with adding 1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour.
- After 5 minutes, whisk the butter/sugar/egg mix again. It will have become a bit heavy so just give another whisk to lighten and combine it well. Add in half of the dry mix and whisk until just combined. I use a wooden spoon for this step.
- Add in the rest of the dry mix and whisk until a dough forms but you can still see some flour. Toss in the chocolate chips and fold to combine. Dough will be soft and may feel crumbly but that’s okay. Either scoop out balls of dough and freeze (thicker cookies) or cover the dough well and chill for minimum 2 hours. When you’re ready to bake allow cookies to warm up only about 20 minutes or until you’re able to scoop out balls of dough. Don’t let them warm to room temperature or anything because they need to be cool when they go in the oven.
- Bake in a preheated 160C/325F oven for 12 – 14 minutes or until the edges have started to lightly brown in colour. The middles should still appear under cooked which is fine as they will continue cooking as they cool on the baking tray. I suggest baking 1 cookie first to see how it turns out, if they’re good then continue baking the rest, if they’ve spread too much for your liking then add in another 2 tablespoons of flour to the dough. I know this extra step may be annoying but you only need to do it the first time then when you make them again, just add that extra flour from the beginning. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Store cookies in an air tight container for up to one week at room temperature.
- Recipe by the dutch baker.
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