The Birchwood Pie Project: Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's face it, there has been too much healthy eating on this blog recently. In the spirit of all things in moderation, it's time for dessert.

It was surprisingly difficult to find a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. I like my cookies on the soft side, but unless you underbake to the point of rawness, chocolate chip cookies have a tendency to turn crisp. Don't know about you, but if I wanted something crunchy, I'd eat a carrot and save the calories. My other go-to cookie recipes have built in softeners: blondies have coconut, oatmeal raisin cookies have oatmeal, and peanut butter cookies have peanut butter, but a plain and pure chocolate chip cookie has nothing to protect itself from the cruel world.

One of the recipes I tried was the venerable NY Times gold standard. With all the extra detail - two different kinds of flour! a 24+ hour dough aging process! - you would figure it must be incredible. To be fair, the cookies I brought in to work were gone by the next day, but I really resented the recipe. I wouldn't have minded the fussy ingredients and multi-day prep time, but the end result was a cookie just like any other cookie. Not life changing, and still on the crisp side. The search continued...and then I found the one. They were soft as pillows right out of the oven. They were silky soft later that evening under the stars with a bottle of red wine. And the next day, they were still all softness and cuddles.

Ingredients
(Recipe from The Picky Palate)
Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1½ cups chocolate chips

Method

Cream the butter and sugars together for 2 minutes.

Introduce the egg and vanilla, beating until just combined.

Combine the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, beating lightly between additions.

Next comes chocolate.

Next comes a dose of extreme self discipline to not eat the entire batch of dough then and there.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Drop the dough by small spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Cookie size is a matter of personal preference, and my preference is for a smaller cookie.