Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with European Butter
Makes about 36 cookies
Adapted from Shauna Sever
3 cups (384 grams) all purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces (225 grams) unsalted European-style butter (this is butter with a higher fat content than standard butter in the US), at room temperature
1 cup (225 grams) brown sugar
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (340 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt, for garnish (optional)
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
In an large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract until light, fluffy, and creamy. If you’re using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, this will take about 3-5 minutes. If you’re beating by hand, this could take about 10 minutes.
Beat in one egg at a time, making sure you fully incorporate the first egg before adding the second. This means the egg white sheen that you’ll see on top of the batter is fully incorporated.
Slowly stir in one cup of the dry ingredients at a time until everything has been incorporated. Be sure not to over mix the cookie dough, instead making sure you mix in the dry ingredients just until you don’t see any more white streaks, but not longer than that.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days ahead. Chilling the cookie dough beforehand is key in order for the cookies to bake properly!
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Place a silicone baking mat or parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
Scoop out enough of your chilled cookie dough to form 1½ inch (4 centimeter) balls. Use your hands to shape them into a rough ball shape (they don’t need to be a perfect sphere), but make sure you don’t overwork the dough because this will cause the butter in the cookie dough to warm up again.
Place 12 of these dough balls on the baking sheet, spaced 2-3 inches (5-7½ centimeters) apart.
Bake for 12 minutes until the cookie edges start to turn a golden brown and the centers are still soft. This visual cue will be clear because if they still need an additional minute or two, the whole cookie will still be a uniform palish color.
Go off the visual cues rather than physical cues, as the cookies will be very soft as you pull them from the oven and they’ll firm up once they’ve cooled a bit. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a hard, crispy cookie.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes (the longer you let them cool on the baking sheet, the softer and chewier the final cookies will be).
If you are using coarse sea salt as a garnish, sprinkle a few flakes over top each cookie as they are cooling.
Enjoy!