Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Next up: Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've seen this chocolate chip cookie recipe on quite a few blogs, including Baking and Boys, which is where I found it. It was part of the Cookie Carnival and received rave reviews. With the word "Ultimate" in the title, I couldn't resist and had to add this to my list of must-make chocolate chip cookies.

The recipe itself comes from Regan Daley's book, In the Sweet Kitchen. Like the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Allrecipes, it also has a high flour to butter ratio. But, although the two recipes are almost identical, the one difference is that this one uses twice as much brown sugar as white sugar. Now, remember when I reviewed the Best CCC? I noted that although it had that great texture combo of crunchy outside-chewy middle, it seemed to lack that caramelly flavor. Since I assumed that this was due to the 1:1 brown sugar-sugar ratio, I wondered what would happen if the ratio was upped to 2:1. Then, voila, I found Regan Daley's recipe which does just that.

Even though there was more flour used in this recipe, the dough still remained nice and sticky. The extra flour, however, helped the cookies to keep their shape and thickness in the oven instead of spreading and flattening out.


The resulting cookies were . . . awesome!!! They had that crunchy exterior and the super chewy middles (i.e. perfect texture). Then the taste, oh the taste, they tasted exactly as a good, no a great, chocolate chip cookie should. One bite (followed by many more bites) and I was ready to declare this one the winner, but, oh wait, I still had lots more recipes I wanted to try. In fact, as I type this, the dough for Joanne Chang's chocolate chip cookies (the one with the 24 hour chill time) is sitting in my fridge. So, we'll see if those edge out these "Ultimate" cookies. But, for now, these truly are the ultimate in my book.

The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Baking and Boys)

1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. tightly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Beat in the vanilla.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.

Using two spoons, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 min. for smaller cookies (I baked mine for 15 min.) or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 min., then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Great CCC Quest of 2011:
Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
BAKED Chocolate Chip Cookies
Allrecipes' Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Soft Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is linked to:
Full Plate Thursday
Whisking Wednesday
Friday's Potluck
Sweet Tooth Friday
Fit and Fabulous Fridays
Fat Camp Friday
Baking with Bizzy
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
So Sweet Sunday
Themed Bakers' Sunday
Savory Sunday
Simply Delish Saturday
CCC Round-Up