Cafe-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

By punk

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, or up to 2 and 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (6 oz) salted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Preparation

Step 1

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the cooled melted butter and the sugars with a hand-mixer for about one minute. Then, add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until just combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix briefly, just until there are no flour clumps left. Fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to an hour. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, making sure you have the racks in the middle of the oven.

Scoop ¼ cup of cookie dough at a time and roll into balls. Then, tear the balls in half by pulling gently on both sides. Smush the two halves together again, but this time have the lumpy, torn sides face upward. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure the cookies have plenty of space to spread.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating half-way through, or until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden, but the center of the cookie still looks soft and just slightly under-cooked. Let cool on the baking sheets until the cookies are firm enough to remove. Every oven is different, so I recommend starting with just one or two cookies on the tray to see what baking time works best for you!
Repeat with remaining batches, until all cookies are baked. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk!

Also, if your cookie dough is too, too wet and sticky, it probably means that your 2 cups + 2 tablespoons of flour was less dense than mine (sometimes it's hard when you're measuring flour by cups instead of weight). Add up to 1/4 cup more, adding a tiny bit at a time. The dough should still be sticky but you want it to be able to hold its shape. Oh, and take my advice about the test batch of 1 or 2 cookies. You can have the greatest cookie recipe in the whole world, but the time will vary depending on your oven! The key to perfect cookies is knowing how to adjust for your kitchen!