In my world, a perfect cookie is one that has golden, crisp edges, a soft, gooey and chewy centre and is filled with enough chocolate chunks to complement each bite. The cookie must be flat, but not thin like a pancake and last (but certainly not least), it must be moist enough to hold its own without a glass of milk on the side, which should only be used for dunking to enhance the flavour of the cookie — not hide its dry texture.
Although a chocolate chip cookie might seem like baking basics 101 to some, a lot of you would be surprised at how many variables exist around the making of this treat — tiny details that can change the end result dramatically. Making the perfect cookie is a complex process and so it is after much trial and error, and years of refining and perfecting that I share my recipe with you. Without further ado, here is how to make the ultimate chocolate chip cookie.
Ingredients
1 cup of Lewis Road Creamery unsalted butter, melted (230g)
1 cup of white sugar (200g)
1 ½ cups of brown sugar, packed tightly (330g)
2 tsp of pink Himalayan salt
1 egg
2 tsp of pure Vanilla extract
½ cup of buttermilk
2 ½ cups of standard flour (310g)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 block of Whittaker’s Creamy Milk Chocolate
1 block of Whittaker’s Dark Chocolate
Sea salt flakes
Makes approximately 24 cookies
Method
1. Start by melting your butter in a saucepan and wait for it to slightly brown. The subtle burnt flavour will make your cookies taste like butterscotch toffee and allow more depth in flavour. Remove from heat and allow the butter to cool back down to room temperature.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the white sugar, brown sugar, pink Himalayan salt and cooled butter until the mixture turns foamy. The brown sugar is key to making a soft and chewy cookie.
3. Add in the egg, vanilla and buttermilk and mix until it forms a creamy consistency. The addition of buttermilk will make your cookies incredibly moist and gooey.
4. Sift the flour and baking soda into the wet mixture and make sure you don’t overmix the dough. Overmixing your dough will make the cookies slightly tough as the gluten in the flour develops.
5. Chop up your chocolate into rough chunks and incorporate that into the batter. Cut your chunks into shards, so they distribute all throughout the cookie like a rippled effect instead of a few chips sprinkled on top.
6. Take some cling wrap, place it over the top of the bowl and put the dough in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Refrigerating the dough will allow the flavours to develop.
7. When the batter has been chilled, preheat the oven to 180°C, fan baked and line your baking tin with paper.
8. Take an ice cream scoop and scoop the dough onto the pan, spacing each scoop by at least 10cm. These cookies spread and you don’t want them to stick together.
9. With cookies, it’s almost impossible to give an exact time to take them out of the oven. They take a little longer than 10 mins, but just keep an eye on them and when the edges have turned golden, you know they’re ready.
10. While the cookies cool down, take a pinch of sea salt flakes and sprinkle them over the cookies. Sea salt flakes will add a crackling effect to the texture of your cookie while enhancing its flavours.
