Bill Yosses’ Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think I have returned to the land of the living. Of course I am so behind on absolutely everything, that it still may be a few days before you see regular posts here from me. But I did promise you a spectacular chocolate chip cookie recipe.

We were just discussing the other day how cookies made with natural peanut butter seemed to not spread as much. Well you would think it would have occurred to me to try chocolate chip cookies with a very small amount of nut butter, but alas it took this wonderful recipe to put the idea in my head. Out of the 6 taste testers of this recipe, only one could detect the peanut butter (although granted 2 of them were toddlers). And she said it was faint. Next time I am at the store I am going to pick up some other nut butters/pastes to try it with.

If, like me, you have been searching for a chocolate chip recipe that stays thick and chewy, no sinking or spreading, and is still good to eat 2 days later (that is as long as they made it), then look no further. These cookies were divine.

Bill Yosses’ Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from The New York Times Dessert Cookbook

Ingredients

4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup unsweetened hazelnut paste or peanut butter (all natural, no oil added)

2 large eggs

2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped out

2 1/3 cups AP flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

12 oz chocolate chips or chopped chocolate of choice

Cream the butter and sugars in the large bowl of a free standing mixer. Add the nut butter/paste, beating until smooth (I used al natural peanut butter). Beat in the eggs and the vanilla beans, scraping the bowl as needed.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet, and combine at low speed until the dough comes together. Mix in the chocolate. Cover the dough with plastic wrap (or transfer to Tupperware) and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.Line baking sheet with parchment paper.Using a tablespoon ice cream scoop, drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the cookie sheet—I got 12 exactly onto my cookie sheet.

Bake until lightly browned, 9-13 minutes. Cool the cookie sheets on a cooling rack before removing the cookies.

Unlike many chocolate chip cookie recipes I have tried, these were still quite good 48 hours later.