Browning the butter gives an amazing deep toffee flavor–it’s well worth the effort. You can bake them as soon as making the mix, but it you have the time, let the batter sit in the fridge for 24 hours, or at least overnight to intensify flavor. If you really want to nerd out, see the full ratios and recipe development Google Sheet here
Makes about 15-17 large, or 23-25 medium cookies
INGREDIENTS
- butter (unsalted): 200 g/7 oz/14 Tb
- flour: 325g/11 oz/2.33 cups
- baking soda: 1 tsp
- eggs: 2
- vanilla extract: 2 tsp
- salt (table): 1 tsp
- light brown sugar (UK: muscovado): 180g/6 oz/1 cup lightly packed
- white sugar: 145 g/5 oz/.75 cup
- 70% couverture dark chocolate bars (or high quality chocolate chips): 240 g/8.5 oz (e.g. Lindt, Felchlin, Valhrona)
- coarse sea salt: a few flakes for each cookie (e.g. Maldon)
STEPS
- Heat oven to 350 F/175 C (if making cookies right away)
- Brown the butter. In a light colored sauce pan (the light color allows you to see the butter darkening), heat the butter over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. The butter will go through phases…it will begin to develop bubbles, then the bubbles subside and the mixture gets a frothy top–remove the pan at this stage. There will be dark butter solids at the bottom of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool completely.
- Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl and whisk together.
- Whisk the eggs with vanilla and salt in a separate large bowl, then add both sugars and the butter (including the solids from the pan). Continue whisking for several minutes to completely integrate all ingredients into a smooth batter. Whisk another minute.
- Add the flour using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mixing just enough to incorporate all the flour.
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces, about .5-1cm/.25-.5 in. Mix into the batter.
- Use right away or refrigerate. Ideally let the mixture sit overnight or 24 hours, but the dough can be used right away.
- Form the dough into balls approximately the size of a golf ball, about 70 g/2.5 oz for large cookies, or 50-55g/1.75-2 oz for medium size,. To a parchment/baking paper-lined baking tray at room temperature, add enough balls for each batch leaving space for cookies to expand while baking. Do not flatten the ball–this helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much. Add a small pinch of sea salt flakes to each cookie. You can bake 2 trays at a time but please swap them high-to-low halfway through.
- Bake for about 15 minutes for medium cookies, a couple minutes longer for large. The cookies should have formed firm edges, but are still a bit soft on the top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, then prepare the next batch.