Bake Along #84 – Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Choco chip cookies are one of the first few recipes that I have tried when I started baking. I have tried quite a few recipes during these years. These are my daughter’s favorite and very few things that she really asks for and she says she likes to eat. So every time I make I forget to take the step pictures or they are not aligned with my plan.

I suddenly got reminded of the term, chaos theory, today. Though I believe every single event happens for a reason, this definition made total sense to me. Google defines ‘Chaos theory is the study of nonlinear dynamics, in which seemingly random events are actually predictable from simple deterministic equations’

Does this make any sense to you ? I know it is difficult to tolerate me at times But my point here is, if I had done chocolate chip cookies earlier in bake along, I might not have done the best ever!! But now when I wanted to dedicatedly do it for bake along, it has to be the best. To me, the miss of this absolutely basic recipe all these days is completely worth. For the extremely delicious chocolate chip cookies, and this experience of tasting it today I have never had it before in my previous trials.

Every time we wander in the malls, the wafting aroma while passing though the cookie shops, I usually head to the store, take a look around the labels to understand what are being displayed and then get back to making them. It is several hundred times better than what is being available on the shop counters. And true, before I started baking, I never cared about the cookie shops

And these are absolutely the best chocolate chip cookies you can ever make. These are not chewy, but a very mild crunch on the outside and soft in the inside. The punch of chocolate flavour hits in every bite and it is dangerously addictive.

The recipe calls for 3 important key steps that needs to be taken care of, for making these best ever. I have incorporated them on here and that is definitely the secret to the success. So just follow every single step with utmost care, giving attention to small details and these lovely babies are for yours

Ingredients:

Streusel Topping:

Unsalted butter – 200 gms
Granulated white sugar – 1 cup
Dark brown sugar – 1/2 cup
Eggs – 2
3/13Vanilla extract – 2 teaspoons
All-purpose flour – 3 cups
Baking soda – 1 teaspoon
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
Chocolate chips – 1 1/2 cups ( mix of your favorites )
Mix of toasted nuts – 1 cup ( optional – I didn’t add)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Line a baking tray with butter paper or silicon mat. Sift together all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Keep aside.

2. Melt the butter in microwave until it is liquid. It should not be hot. Just in liquid form. Using melted butter is one of the key aspects here. Add the melted butter into the bowl of your electric beater and add in both the sugars.

3. Beat the butter and the sugars on medium high speed for about 5 minutes until the mixture becomes thick.

4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed for 10 to 15 seconds only. Do not over beat the eggs. This is another key aspect.

5. Add pure vanilla extract to the mixture and beat just until combined. Remove the bowl from the beater.

And that’s how the mixture looks at this stage.

6. Add the entire flour content into the mixture, use a rubber spatula to mix the flour gently.

7. You will get a crumbly mixture first. Now use your hands to gently mix up the dough to combine.

8. Check for the consistency. If the dough is sticky like how it is in the picture, you need to add a little more flour. This is the next important key factor. The dough should have enough flour to keep it just dry and not sticky.

9. I added about 3 tablespoons of flour to the dough. Mix it very roughly using your hands.

This is how it looks after the addition of the flour

10. Add the chocolate chips. If using toasted nuts, add them in now. Use your hands to gently fold in the chocolate chips evenly across the dough.

The final dough. Looks divine

11. Make balls of 1.5 inches diameter, the size I like to feed my kids. If you like really large cookies make bigger balls. Place them in the prepared baking tray with a spacing of 2 inches. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 11 minutes. Here is the final key factor to the best cookies ever. Do not bake more than this time and do not change the temperature either.

12. Cool them on wire rack. They will look puffy and very soft to the touch. Do not be tempted to assume they are under baked. The bottom of the cookies will be golden brown and the top will settle to firm once cool.

They are ready to be devoured while its still warm and then once its cooled down, you can keep counting. But beware they are really really addictive. Best to the bite, absolutely scrumptious and one of the best ever cookies that you might have tasted