My Famous Chocolate Chunk Cookies

If there is one thing that brings me joy in life, it is taking care of others.  Inviting people I love to my home to cook and host is one of my favorite things. I always want to have friends over for dinner or games. It gives me a chance to really show my love language – service.  I seriously get so much pleasure getting ready for people to come over. Cleaning, planning, ironing napkins. It is just my thing! Enter my famous chocolate chunk cookies.

My recipe is adapted from the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies. And while that recipe is SOLID, I just didn’t want to deal with the faff anymore. These cookies are enough work without needed to locate pastry flour.

Anyone who has been to my house in the last six months, then you have probably been force-fed warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies the size of your head.  And if you have been more than once, it was probably because you wanted another cookie! These cookies are not for your three year old (though they will love them) and they aren’t a spur of the moment kind of baking treat. The dough needs time to rest and for the flour to absorb moisture. It may seem fussy but trust the process. It makes for the best cookies. Crispy around the edges. Gooey in the middle. And none of that cake texture that can totally ruin a cookie. 

Combining half dark chocolate and half milk make every bite perfect. All of the fuss is totally worth it, though.  I won’t ever go back. These chocolate chunk cookies require you to plan a little bit in advance to allow the cookie dough to hang out in the fridge before baking.  Even if you can’t give it the full 24 hours, they will be damn good after four hours.

Baking Tip

I like to make the huge batch, scoop the dough balls onto parchment paper, let it rest, and then freeze the dough balls. Whenever someone stops by, or raging PMS hits, I can pull out however many cookies needed, pop them on a baking sheet and bake a hot cookie with puddles of chocolate straight from the freezer! It is totally genius, and everyone will think you have your life together.  Never share your secret.

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Famous Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes 18 3.5 oz cookies (or a million regular sized cookies)

Time 45 minutes + chill time

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt

1 1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup (10 oz) lightly packed brown sugar

1 cup (8 oz) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate, chunked in big pieces (I use half 70% dark and half milk!)

sea salt to top

• Mix your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl. Set aside. Or skip this step. Your cookies will be fine.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar with a paddle until super light and fluffy – five minutes. If your butter is cold, just cube and beat on medium-high for 60 seconds before adding in the sugar.
• Add in eggs one at a time. Be sure to mix thoroughly between each egg! Mix in the vanilla extract.
• Add in the dry ingredients. Mix on low until just combined – you should still be able to see some flour in the dough. It will all finish mixing with the chocolate. This will only take a few seconds!
• Add in the chocolate pieces and mix them with a spoon or on the lowest setting of your stand mixer.
• Scoop all the dough into balls (2-3 oz each for large cookies or a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop for smaller cookies) and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. You can leave it in the fridge for up to three days, or freeze in an airtight container.
• Alternatively, you can place cookie balls straight into the freezer. “Flash freeze” for 30 minutes before putting them into a ziptop bag. 

When ready to bake…

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place 4-6 cookies on the cookie sheet. Make sure they have room, as they will spread a bit. You do not need to thaw or bring to room temperature.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes straight from the fridge, or until golden brown along the edges. You want puddles of chocolate, crispy edges, but not overdone.
• Add in an extra minute or two if cooking from frozen. No need to thaw the dough beforehand.

You can easily half this recipe, but since they freeze so nicely, I highly suggest just going for the whole shebang. Cookies have never been so worth the wait.