Easiest Half-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

By srumbel

The easiest (and softest + chewiest) chocolate chip cookies you will ever taste! This recipe makes a half-batch of cookies (approx. one dozen) and requires only one bowl and no hand beaters/stand mixers. PLUS only 8 ingredients needed!
from chelseasmessyapron.com

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup salted butter
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk*
• 3/4 cup white all-purpose flour (NOT packed into the measuring cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup high quality milk-chocolate chunks + 2-3 tablespoons chocolate chips**

Preparation

Step 1

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.
With a spoon or a whisk, whisk in the brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla extract (scale down or up to taste preference - I like a strong vanilla flavor).
Stir until completely smooth and then stir in the egg yolk. (The more yellow the yolk, the more flavor your cookies will have. Organic eggs are generally larger and more yellow which is what I used).
Measure the flour carefully making sure not to pack in the flour. Do not press the measuring cup into the flour and then pull up - you will have too much flour. Rather, gently scoop flour in and shake off the excess.
Stir in the flour and baking soda and mix well. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl. (If not, add a bit more flour until a good dough is formed).
Coarsely chop the chocolate bar and stir in the chunks and chocolate chips. Knead the chips into the dough.
Place the dough in an airtight container and in the fridge for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight (overnight will yield a greater flavor as the ingredients meld together).
When ready to bake, set the oven temperature at 325 degrees.
Roll small balls of dough that are even and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. Slightly under-baking these cookies will yield extremely soft and chewy cookies.
Allow the cookies to continue to "bake" on the cookie sheet for 3 more minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
One other tip: To ensure I make cookies correctly (particularly if I measured the flour right), I will often baked just one cookie at the first. If the cookie spreads too much or more than I would like, I stir in a few more tablespoons of flour and test it again. Once I have the perfect consistency I'll bake the remaining cookies. Just an optional tip to test the amount of flour in your cookies and control the amount of "spread" :)
BUT it’s also only for a half-batch. It makes one dozen cookies

Notes
*Egg yolk MUST be large. Reserve the whites for another recipe or discard **For the chocolate chunks, I chopped a large, high quality chocolate bar and then added in additional chocolate chips for added texture/flavor. For additional notes, please refer to the last 2 paragraphs of this post.