Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Baking Illustrated, pg 434)

Makes about 18 large cookies

2 cups plus 2 T.  (10 5/8 ounces) flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

12 T. (1 ½ sticks) butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup packed (7 ounces) brown sugar

½ cup (3 ½ ounces) sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to

325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.