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Elisha’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

cookies, dessert, sweet endings, sweet treats / by

Photography and Styling by Elisha Sewell

What is the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie?

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie is buttery, it melts on the tongue. It is sweet, with toffee-caramel like sweetness and all those nuances and depth of flavor. It is perfumed throughout with vanilla. The edges are crisp, the center is chewy, there are all these lovely ripples and crags. And it is loaded with puddles and puddles of chocolate.

To me, this is the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. 

Elisha’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Wet:

  • 1 cup (200 grams) brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 10 Tbsp (140 grams) grass-fed butter, softened (or, Miyoko’s vegan butter)
  • 1 egg, room temperature (you can take the egg out of the fridge about 30-45 minutes before baking or, you can put it in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes)
  • 1 egg yolk, room temperature
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 
  • 1 vanilla bean (optional, but makes a big difference in the taste of the cookie)

Dry:

  • 2 1/4 cups (270 grams) almond flour
  • 5 Tbsp (40 grams) tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Mix-ins:

  • 200-220 grams dark chocolate, chopped (you can also use chocolate chips or, baking wafers)

Directions:

  1. Using a pairing knife, split a vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Using the backside of the blade, scrape the vanilla beans from the vanilla bean pod. Add the vanilla beans to the softened butter. 
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the softened butter and both sugars. Beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. 
  3. With the mixer on low, add the egg and the egg yolk and mix. 
  4. Add the vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated. 
  5. Add your dry ingredients to a medium mixing bowl. Whisk them together. 
  6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
  7. Add all the chocolate and fold to combine. 
  8. Line a quarter sheet baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  9. Using a size 16 cookie scoop, scoop out all of your dough into balls. Place each ball of dough on the parchment lined quarter sheet pan as you scoop. (Scoop 3 tablespoons per cookie if you don’t have a cookie scoop.)
  10. Cover the pan of cookie dough and refrigerate for 24-48 hours. (The butter will firm up, the sugar will hydrate, and flavors will deepen as the dough rests. If you don’t refrigerate the dough, the cookies will spread too thin like pancakes. If you absolutely cannot wait  24-48 hours, freeze a few balls of dough for 10-15 minutes then bake them.)
  11. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a half-sheet baking sheet with parchment paper. (You can fold the parchment paper in half lengthwise and crosswise. Then you will have four quadrants. You can place a ball of cookie dough in the center of each quadrant to keep them from spreading into each other.)
  12. Roll each ball of dough into a perfect sphere, this helps create a smooth and crunchy exterior.
  13. Bake at 350F for 14-17 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the middle is just set. (It can be a good idea to bake just one test cookie in order to gauge the way your oven bakes.) 
  14. When the cookies are 2 minutes away from being done, bang the cookie sheet on the rack of the oven a couple times (this helps them deflate and get crackly tops). This is also a good time to add any extra chocolate you want to melt on the tops of the cookies. 
  15. Bake for 2 more minutes, a total of 14-17 minutes. (The cookies are done baking when they have browned edges and the crags throughout the cookie look dry and no longer wet.)
  16. Remove the cookies from the oven once they are done baking. 
  17. As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, use a spatula to push the edges of each cookie into a perfect circle (This will only work while the cookies are fresh from the oven and still very pliable.)
  18. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes. (The residual heat from the pan will continue to bake the cookies a bit more. Once the cookies cool, they will set and harden a bit.)
  19. Move to a cooling rack or, countertop and cool. 
  20. Enjoy!

If you want to take a deeper dive into making your Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. . .

Register for my free course,Your Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie, and start baking with me today.