Deluxe chocolate chip cookies

This recipe is the result of years of experimentation attempting to create a luxurious version of the classic chocolate chip cookie. The result is a big cookie with a fudgy inside and a crisp exterior.

Steph Ango's deluxe chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ sticks, unsalted butter
  • 1 ice cube
  • 375 grams, light brown sugar
  • 125 grams, white sugar
  • 2 large eggs + 1 yolk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 240 grams, cake flour
  • 240 grams, bread flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 300 grams, milk chocolate feves or bars, roughly chopped
  • 300 grams, dark chocolate feves or bars, roughly chopped
  • Flaky sea salt

Directions

  1. Brown the butter over medium heat.
  2. Pour the browned butter into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the ice cube and let melt to cool down the butter.
  3. Add both sugars. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment mix the butter and sugar until well incorporated, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add the eggs and yolk, 1 at a time, beating each egg 15 seconds until combined.
  5. Add vanilla extract, almond extract and beat to combine.
  6. Switch to paddle attachment. Sift together both flours, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients, beating on low speed until just combined.
  7. Fold in both chocolates.
  8. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, ideally 72 hours. Do not skip this step!
  9. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  10. Form the cold dough into 90 gram balls. Flatten into a puck shape roughly 2.5 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick. Top with flaky sea salt.
  11. Bake until golden brown but still fudgy inside, about 14-16 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
  12. Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack to prevent too much browning on the bottom.

Tips

  • My favorite chocolate to use is a mix of Valrhona Manjari and Jivara feves.
  • The dough gets significantly better after 3 days in the refrigerator. The batter can be formed into pucks and baked from the freezer with 30-60 minutes of thawing at room temperature.
  • Parchment is better than silicone for thicker cookies, because silicone causes the dough to spread too fast.
  • If you like a thinner crispier cookie: 1. do not add the extra yolk, 2. bring dough to room temperature before baking, 3. halfway through baking drop the pan onto the countertop from a height of a few inches to deflate the cookies and create ripples (also known as the pan-banging technique).

Credits

  • The overall ratios and combination of flours are heavily inspired by Jacques Torres — it provides a great texture and chew to the cookie. My version has a few differences in that it uses less creaming, more brown sugar and the addition of a yolk to achieve an interior that is more fudgy than cakey.
  • The combination of dark and milk chocolate came from Claire Saffitz, it gives the cookie more complexity and balance of sweetness.