The chocolate chip cookie: the never not-appropriate, always delicious, can’t have just one treat. Everyone has a favorite version, and this is mine. It’s my back-pocket cookie recipe, the ones I’ll mix up to take on a car trip, bring to a friend’s for dinner, or if I’m having a rough week and just really need a cookie. It has excellent chocolate to dough ratio, nice texture with the dark brown sugar adding chew and the raw adding crunch, and a just-right sprinkle of salt for balance. So, after a week of basically all the bad news, these had to happen.

My typical cookie baking experiments involve dialing down the sugar and swapping some portion of white flour for whole grain. I’ve found you can usually go up to about 50/50 whole wheat/white flour before they start to feel to heavy. As for sugar, many recipes use way too much, but this one started on the low side already. I eliminated the white sugar the original version called for because I don’t like the texture it gives, and only reduced the brown a little bit. I don’t think you’ll miss it.

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe by Too Many Spoons

Servings

smallish cookies

Cost

Total time

minutes

I’ve made these with bagged chocolate chunks when in a rush, which still produces a very good cookie. However, when you hand chop a bar to get mismatched sizes and slivers of chocolate that infiltrate every bite-well, that’s better.
If you can’t find raw sugar, don’t worry-you can definitely use just brown sugar and everything will be ok.
Also, I hope these cost you nothing, because maybe you are like me and you keep chocolate chip cookie ingredients as pantry staples at all times. 🙂

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp Sugar in the Raw
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 lb (225g) bittersweet chocolate (I used 2 bars Ghirardelli 60%), chopped
Flaky sea salt

Directions

Heat oven to 360. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream them together for about 5 minutes, until well mixed and fluffy.
Scrape down bowl, then add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Add the baking soda and fine sea salt, beating briefly until you can’t see the specks.
Add the flours, then mix on low speed until just combined.
Fold in the chocolate pieces with a sturdy spatula or spoon. It will seem like way too much chocolate, so much you have to struggle to incorporate it into the dough. Keep trying, and use your hands if needed.
Scoop the dough into heaping tablespoons, and space well apart on the baking sheet. Press them down lightly with your fingertips (to encourage a little spreading), then sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Bake for 12 minutes, until just starting to turn golden.
Let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, eat 1 or several still warm, then transfer the rest to a wire rack to cool completely.