Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rich, chewy, with a very slight crackle, and a taste that floods your whole body with warmth and comfort.  That describes the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  I have made dozens and eaten dozens of this delicious cookie but the new number one recipe is the one I found in Cook's Country magazine.

These cookies are everything and more a chocolate chip cookie should be.  Like the other cookie recipes it has your basic ingredients of butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips.  The differences in this recipe are the  (1) amount of brown sugar used.  This recipe uses twice as much brown sugar as white.  The result is a chewier cookie.  (2) Melted butter.  This helps also to make the cookies chewy.


These subtle changes produce a cookie that will become a family favorite.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 2/3 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in bowl.
2. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Add egg and yolk and vanilla and beat until combined.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions until just combined, scraping down bowl as needed.  Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
3. Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time, roll into balls and space them 2 inches apart on prepared sheets.  Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are set and beginning to brown but centers are still soft and puffy 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.  Let cookies cool on sheets for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Note: To keep the cookies chewy longer, store them in an airtight container with a slice of sandwich bread.