Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Originally posted 6/26/16

Ingredients (Yield: 1 ½ dozen)

1 stick of Butter

⅓ cup of brown sugar

⅓ cup of white sugar

A pinch of salt

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 egg

1 ¼ cups of flour

½ cup of chocolate chips

Instructions

Step 0.5: Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. 

Step 1: Brown your butter. To start, melt your butter in a pot or pan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. It’s important for this that you use a pan that has a shiny/steel finish, as opposed to a black finish. Otherwise, you won’t be able to tell the color of the butter and it will be easy to burn.

The butter will eventually turn a nice warm brown color and it will smell nutty. That’s how you know it is ready. Remove the butter from the heat and pour it over your sugars. There will be some solid brown stuff in the bottom of the pan, so make sure to scrape the bottom to get it all.

Step 2: Stir both sugars and the melted butter together until they are well-combined. Then, let the bowl sit for about five minutes, to let it cool off. Don’t skip this cooling time; you’ll add an egg in the next step and if the mixture is too hot, the egg will scramble. 

Step 3: Stir in your vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. Then, add your egg, stirring for 90-120 seconds continuously.

Step 4: Add in your flour and stir just until a dough forms. Then, add your chocolate chips and stir just until they are incorporated into the mixture. Don’t overmix, or the chocolate chips will begin to melt.

Step 5: Place spoonfuls of cookie dough on your lined cookie sheet. These cookies spread out a decent amount, so don’t place them too close together.

Step 6: Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are firm and not shiny. They’ll continue to cook a bit after you take them out of the oven, so don’t worry about getting them golden brown.

Step 7: Let them cool slightly or all the way before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, though I’m sure they’ll be long gone before then!