I had a little bit of down time today, and as a matter of principle I find it nearly impossible to have free time and not do anything. I always feel the need to convert free time into productive energy, so I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies today. (I also baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies) While I already have a standby chocolate chip cookie recipe, I know there are tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there that claim to be the recipe that end all recipes. So I decided to try one from Alton Brown. This recipe is unusual in that it employs bread flour instead of all-purpose. Since bread flour has a higher gluten content, I expect these cookies to be more solid structurally and bake up thicker – but my scientific knowledge of differing gluten levels in flours ends here.

Chewy as an adjective for these cookies are a misnomer – I thought they were more fluffy and airy, almost cake-like but not quite. I loved how the recipe is clearly catered for those with a kitchen scale. I hemmed and hawed over getting my digital kitchen scale, but it is by far the best purchase I’ve procured for my baking expeditions to date. It has saved me a good many dishes to wash by hand.

This recipe is easy enough to bake up, but I would much rather use another recipe that I can halve easily: the single egg and egg yolk in this recipe makes that tricky.

Alton Brown’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
Adapted from Food Network
Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

8 ounces unsalted butter
12 ounces bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ounces granulated sugar
8 ounces light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 ounce whole milk (I used water because I didn’t have any milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda onto a paper plate. Pour the butter into your stand mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, the egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

Using the paper plate as a slide, gradually integrate the dry ingredients, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Once the flour is worked in, drop the speed to “stir” and add the chocolate chips. Chill the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven.

Scoop the dough into 1 1/2-ounce portions onto parchment-lined half sheet pans, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake 2 sheets at a time for 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Remove from the oven, slide the parchment with the cookies onto a cooling rack and wait at least 5 minutes before devouring.

Notes: The darker the sugar you use, the chewier your cookies will be.