CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BAKE-OFF #3
Browned Butter Thousand-Layer Chocolate Chip Cookies
The chocolate chip cookie for grown ups.
This is the big sister to the simple and yummy, chocolate chip cookie #1 with a rounded, nutty taste. If you have time in the kitchen, the combination of nutty, toffee dough and shards of chocolate in every bite… make them irresistible.
I adapted it from The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland. I didn’t have the patience to cut out the cutter shapes and instead, used the spoon method to make balls, which worked great.
I had been reading using melted butter than than room temperature for the butter/sugar combination in chocolate chip cookie. I wanted to take it a little further with browned butter. This recipe seemed like the perfect recipe for this experiment. Browning butter imparts this toffee butter note that is indescribably good!
2 1/4 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) burnt unsalted butter, cooled*
3/4 cup (150 g) packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into shards
1 large egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel (optional)
Unwrap the dough rectangles. Place one on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle half of the chocolate evenly over the dough rectangle. Top with a second piece of dough. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate over the second piece of dough, then finally top with the third piece of dough. The tower of dough and chocolate will be tall, and chocolate may fall out the sides, that’s ok. Dust the top piece of dough lightly with flour, then use a rolling pin to gently roll the stack of dough and chocolate into roughly a 9×6-inch rectangle about 1 1/2 inches thick. Now, scoop serving sized balls of cookie dough and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten the balls gently. (This might look impossible to do, but it works. Carefully put the scraps together, as well and repeat until finished. The cookies will look and taste good regardless of what it looks like at this stage.) We liked them a little thicker and chewy but flatten them more if you like a crisp cookie.
Preheat oven to 375 F. If you’re going to bake all of the cookies at once, separate them onto a few baking sheets, leaving at least 2-3 inches between the rounds. Brush the tops of the rounds with the egg wash and, if desired, sprinkle with a few grains of fleur de sel.
Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are set (rotating the baking sheets halfway through if you’re baking more than one sheet of cookies). The centers will still seem really soft and underbaked, but that’s fine. They’ll set up as they cool. Transfer the baking sheet(s) to wire rack(s) and let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes before removing them to the racks to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
SOMETHING YOU MIGHT LIKE:
Cookie #1: 2-in-1 Chocolate Chip Cookie (Chewy or Shortbread)
Cookie #2: Beth’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
Favorite Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (not pictured)
