A few months ago, I had the bright idea to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was going to create this bracket, and pin one recipe against another until I found my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie. Come, to think of it, it might have been around March Madness, which would explain a lot.
I made two recipes, and didn’t get a whole lot further. Partially because I got lazy and partially because I found this article on the Serious Eats Food Lab. Essentially, Kenji spent a whole lot of time trying to do the same thing I was going to do, but a lot more scientifically. I did make his recipe, and yes, it is pretty great. But, of course, I had to try to make it my own using some of the information I gathered from his article.
One of main differences in Kenji’s recipe versus a typical recipe is that he uses brown butter, which give the cookies a bit of nuttiness. Well, browning butter tests my patience, so instead I added a touch of espresso powder (which I use in a lot of my chocolate recipes). It doesn’t make the cookies taste like coffee, instead they take on a nutty, maple-y flavor that really adds some depth.
But like Kenji, I did add sea salt to the tops of my cookies. If you take only one thing away from this post, please add sea salt to your cookies. Sea salt takes a normal chocolate chip cookie and elevates it.
Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? What is your “secret ingredient”?
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I have done brown butter worth the time, but you need to chill the dough for 2 hr before baking, or else cookies flatten.
That is good to know! I will have to try that.