Or, Chocolate Chip Cookies Revisited. Yes, this is the third recipe for chocolate chip (or chunk) cookies I’ve posted, in about a year and a half of doing this blog. There were Alton Brown’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, Jacques Torres’ Chocolate Chunk Cookies, and now these. And these – Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies, courtesy of David Lebovitz – are now my favorite.
All desserts have a little salt in them; pastry chefs routinely say that the worst thing us amateur cooks can do is leave out the small measure of salt from a recipe we make at home, particularly when we’re making a dessert. Salt doesn’t just make things salty, it is also enhances flavor. It cuts the sweetness of a dessert, ensuring that it doesn’t come out *too* sweet (yes, that is possible!). Almost all recipes using butter, savory and sweet, call for unsalted butter; people like to control the amount of salt in their food, and there isn’t a way to precisely measure how much salt is X, Y, or Z brand of salted butter.
So why use salted butter? Because it tastes darn good, and it makes these cookies taste even more darn good. The cookies aren’t salty – they have an incredible deep chocolately, buttery flavor and, I swear, leave you more satisfied than the average chocolate chunk cookie. Several coworkers, who frequently sample my baking creations, told me that these cookies were the best thing to come out of my kitchen. I’d like to think that’s saying something.
One year ago: A Lighter Meatball
Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Adapted from the great David Lebovitz
Makes 20-24 cookies. This recipe made exactly 21 cookies for me; if you want more cookies, go ahead and double the recipe.
Total time: 1 hour, not including fridge time
If you want to use unsalted butter, Mr. Lebovitz informs us that 4 ounces (8 tablespoons, or 115g) of butter has about 1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon of salt in it. You could simply swap out unsalted butter and add another 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Ingredients
4 ounces (115g) salted butter, at room temperature*
2/3 cup packed (110g) dark or light brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup (180g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or kosher salt (do not use table salt!)
1 1/3 cups (200g) high quality coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate – I use Scharffen Berger semi-sweet, it’s my favorite!
1 cup toasted nuts (such as walnuts or pecans), coarsely chopped (While I usually don’t like nuts in my chocolate chip cookies (or brownies, for that matter), I followed Mr. Lebovitz’s advice and added walnuts to these cookies the first time I made them, and finely chopped pecans subsequent times. I enjoyed both, but preferred the pecans. But do as you like!)
* I bought European-style butter at my local Whole Foods, which a lot more expensive, only because Mr. Lebovitz goes on and on about how great French butter is, so I thought why not try it (even if it isn’t actually butter I got from the French countryside). I’m not sure how much of a difference it made, but I will say that I tried a little bit of the European salted butter, and it tasted incredible. And I generally don’t like butter that much! But buy whatever is easier for you, regular unsalted butter will work just fine!
1. To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar just until smooth and creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla until fully incorporated.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, or by hand, stir the flour mixture into the beaten butter until combined (do not overmix!), then mix in the chopped chocolate (including any chocolate dust!) and the chopped nuts, if using. Do not overmix the dough, just incorporate the chocolate and nuts until just combined.
3. Cover the dough with plastic warp, and chill the dough until firm. It’s best to letthe dough rest in the fridge overnight, which is what I did. But if you don’t have the time, don’t stress. Try to let it chill for a few hours, if you can.
4. To bake the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
5. Form the cookie dough into rounds about the size of a large unshelled walnut. I used my #24 disher, which is a good tool because the dough will be a bit hard. Place the rounds evenly spaced apart on the baking sheets, 6 per sheet, and press down the tops to flatten them so they are no longer domed and the dough is even. Dampen your fingers slightly when you flatten to tops.
6. Bake the cookies for 9 minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies look about set, but are not browned.
7. Remove from the oven and quickly tap the top of each with a spatula, then return to the oven for 2 to 5 more minutes, until the tops of the cookies are light golden brown. The spatula trick is an interesting direction from Mr. Lebovitz – it compacts the crumb and makes the cookies a little chewier. After returning the spatula-whacked cookies to the oven, I only left mine in 2 minutes, as they were already getting pretty brown.
Remove from oven and let cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then move them using the spatula to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Storage: The cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days in an airtight container. The dough can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for one or two months.
Oh my god! You’re seriously killing me right now. Chocolate chunk cookies are my weakness, and the addition of salted butter sounds so incredible. Mail me some please??
These look amazing, I’m adding them to my “to-make” list. In the second photo, is that a special tool for chunking chocolate? You’re so impressive. 🙂
Yes, it’s a chocolate fork (or called something similar) – chopping big blocks of chocolate is bad for your knives (it will dull them), so it’s better to use a tool like the fork to break chocolate up. I picked that up at Sur la Table many years ago for like $10, it was totally worth the investment!
Follow up question: did you find the fancy European butter in some fancy NYC gourmet market the likes of which I won’t be able to track down in ho-hum Boston, or can I get it at Whole Foods? 🙂
I found the European butter at Whole Foods, it was in the cheese area. I will clarify that in the recipe!
Yum…oh man…oh yum. I love cookies.
Mmmmm, I love that these are salted! I would adore one of these, they look sooo gooey and perfect 🙂
oooh, it’s the chipper! I think these cookies sound divine. And you can never go wrong with three chocolate chunk cookie recipes, at least not in my book. 🙂
Yes, the chipper! Thank you, could not think of the word!
Love these cookies, they look amazing. I could go for a few right now. That is a cool looking tool for chunking chocolate I don;t think I have ever seen one before. Great post.
I think there’s a place for salted butter in baking, and I’ll use it depending on whether it suits the recipe. These cookies look awesome!
These look indescribably delicious – I can imagine sinking my teeth into more than 1 for sure 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hey that one has a bite in it. I’ll get that off your hands. And one looks slightly less than round, oh just hand over the rack.
I have a jar that pretty much never runs out cookies. I’m going to use your recipe next to bake a batch. 🙂
These sound devilishly good! You have to expect they are, with all that extra love (chocolate) added:]
I certainly agree that salt in a dessert recipe is a must if you want to develop good flavor. Using both salted butter and that much sea salt seems like it would be too much but it’s probably amazing. I’ll have to give this a try and see for myself. Thanks!
Then I’m borrowing this recipe. I need to build my cookie repertoire and if these get a coworker thumbs up they must be great! I bring a lot of my baked goods to the office, too, and I always get the feedback I need. These look great! 🙂
Gorgeous cookie recipe – for me, salted butter is the only type that exists and I love that sweet salty combination – delicious!
I love salt in dessert… it add balance of flavor for me. These cookies sound yummy.
of course there should be salt 😉 these sound fantastic… have you tried cook’s illustrated ultimate choc chip cookies? with browned butter… totally over the top 🙂
Nom nom nom these sound like the perfect cookie. I’d love to eat about 7, warm out of the oven, with a huge glass of milk!
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.com/
These sound delicious! I love salty and sweet desserts!
sounds delicious. congrats on the top 9!
I totally agree with the salt thing. I’m definitely going to have to give these cookies a try. They sound so good!
What wouldn’t I give to have one of these cookies now… they look beyond good 😉
These look great!! Yummy!!
In France, we get the most wonderful salted butter (beurre demi sel), which is available with those big, recognizable crystals of salt in it. In fact the other morning I was salting…er, I mean, buttering my morning toast and a crystal of salt fell off the bread and hit the plate with an audible plink and startled me. Salted butter has a more distinct buttery taste and I’m using it more and more in baking, although I have to temper that with the fact that salted butter varies wildly from place to place, so in most recipes, I still generally call for unsalted butter.
That is so true about the salt in baking. I ise unsalted butter exclusively! Butter in Toronto cam be as much as $6! So when it goes on sale (loss leader) for $2.99, I buy 3 or 4 and cut them into 1/2 cup squares and freeze!
I’ve gotta get one of those chocolate forks! I’m sure that wonderful kitchen shop in the food network building in Chelsea has one, or maybe even Zabars upstairs! Unless there is another gem you would share?
A suggestion is if you’re just making the cookies as a treat I would freeze it in a roll and when you just want one or two, just slice and bake. It keeps one from eating the entire lot in one sitting!