Chocolate Chip Cookies Via Alton Brown

Stock up on that bread flour. You're gonna need it for this recipe cuz you're going to be making this one over and over and over again. I discovered these back in March and I've made them at least seven times, and have memorized the recipe at this point.
And sadly, this is the only photo I have because I keep forgetting to photograph them before they get inhaled by everyone!

I discovered these cookies right after I sent out my other chocolate chip cookie recipe on our Christmas cards last year *insert facepalm emoji* but it's so good I think I'm going to have to send out an updated version this year with this recipe. That's how serious I am.


I actually made these side by side with my other adapted recipe from Martha Stewart (also on this blog) and Jacques Torres recipe and this one won, hands down!
The Martha Stewart one was good, everyone agreed, but not phenomenal.
The Torres recipe was way too buttery and rich (and a bit crumbly) and although tasty, Alton Brown's struck the right medium for craveability and balance of flavors and textures.

Use your best butter and your best chocolate for this. Callebaut and a proper salted butter make all the difference, and people will ooh and ahh and think you're a master chef, and beg you for more cookies.

I very slightly tweaked these from Alton Brown, who tweaked them from the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips bag!
I wanted to post them here since this is a food diary of sorts for me and I like to refer back here for recipes I love--ya never know when others will shut down their blogs and I'll lose my precious favorite dishes forever! I had to learn that lesson the hard way a few times.

Anyway, these cookies are unbelievably delicious. You get to melt the butter which makes it come together even faster (let's be real, I was melting butter for all my cookie recipes out of laziness), and there's only one egg and an egg yolk involved, along with milk, which I've never seen for chocolate chip cookies. I don't love that this uses bread flour since many people don't have it on hand but it's so good I keep it regularly in stock now. The bread flour makes it chewier than any other cookie so it's worth it!
The outsides are perfectly crispy while the inside is gooey. I like to use salted butter to cut the sweetness a bit.

I also highly recommend weighing your ingredients for this so they are accurate, just as Alton Brown would want!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from here
Makes 15-20 depending on size

8 ounces salted butter (use the good stuff, it makes a difference, I like Plugra or the salted cultured butter from Trader Joe's)
2 ounces granulated sugar
8 ounces brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons whole milk
10 ounces chopped Callebaut* or chocolate of choice (I like to use 61% or mix bittersweet and milk together)
12 ounces bread flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Melt the butter in a saucepan.
In an stand mixer bowl, add in the sugars and the vanilla extract.
Add in the melted butter and beat on high for 5 minutes until blended together.
Once the bowl isn't too hot to touch (basically once the butter cools a bit), add in the egg, egg yolk, and milk.
Switch to a spatula and add in the bread flour, salt, and baking soda.
Stir it in gently and halfway through, toss in the chocolate.
Make sure you properly scrape the dough from the bottom of the bowl so there are no streaks of flour.

Place the dough in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 12 hours, or you can freeze up to a couple months.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees F and place mounds on a baking mat.
I like to do balls about the size of 2-3 tablespoons.
Sprinkle the tops of each one with flaky sea salt.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (rotate pan halfway to ensure even baking)
Once the edges are browned, it's done!

Let cool (or don't) before consuming.

*Callebaut is available at Whole Foods near their cheeses