"THE Chocolate Chip Cookie"

I know I've posted a recipe before for my favorite chocolate chip cookies, but when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I decided to give it a try, because lately all our cookie attempts come out baked flatter than flat.

I know from all my food science training that our high altitude makes baking tricky, but ugh. Disappointing cookies are not helpful for my morale.

So this girl over at Sally's Baking Addiction developed a cookie recipe that is purported to bake up soft and fluffy, using a few methods: the addition of corn starch, using dark brown sugar (and altering the brown vs. white sugar ratio), refrigerating the dough and slightly under-baking them on cool baking sheets. The cornstarch makes them lighter and more tender by preventing gluten from forming, the dark brown sugar keeps them moist, as does the under-baking, and chilling the dough helps the cookies to hold their shape and not flatten out.

Well, folks. Check this out:

I made these last night, and they still taste fresh from the oven. Not stale, hard or flat AT ALL. And I didn't even have to do the usual high-altitude adjustments (more flour, less sugar, add water). Whaaaat.

This is the second time I've made them, but the first time I didn't have dark brown sugar, and I felt that they needed more salt, and some nuts, etc. So here is my adapted version of this surprisingly effective recipe. Just remember that you'll need time for chilling the dough. And I baked mine for 9 minutes--seemed to be the perfect amount.

 

THE Chocolate Chip Cookie

adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the chopped nuts until golden and fragrant. Set aside in a bowl to cool.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla. On low speed, mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Drop 1 Tbsp balls of chilled dough onto cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes (but no longer), until barely golden brown around the edges. Let cool for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Make sure that your baking sheet has completely cooled (or use a fresh one) before baking the next batch.

Yield: 3 dozen.

Want to take these over the top? Try her Triple Chocolate Chip version!