Famous Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Maddy Gutierrez

Famous Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough July 31, 2024 from Maddy Gutierrez

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) brown sugar

1 cup (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate, chopped into chunks

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
3. Add eggs and vanilla extract, beat to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients in three additions, mixing on low speed until just combined. 
5. Fold in chocolate chunks until evenly disbursed.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls or larger and flatten slightly. Cover and chill for 24 hours.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space 5-6 dough balls on each bake sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

August 4 is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and I've no doubt the blogosphere will be flooded with recipes for chocolate chip cookies today. Before I go sheeple and do the same, I want to call out a small business I order chocolate chip cookies from when I need to send a care package to a deployed military service member. Operation Cookies is female- and veteran-owned and, just as important for my purposes, they ship to APO, FPO and DPO overseas addresses. I've never actually tried the cookies themselves but they get good reviews online and I've had one service member I sent the cookies to tell me they were delicious and enjoyed by her and her unit. That's good enough for me. Yes, I can bake cookies and send them more cheaply myself but sometimes it's not about the cost but what I believe in supporting. And I will always try to support a female-owned small business and a veteran-owned small business whenever I can. Operation Cookies also donates part of their proceeds to nonprofits that support veterans like the Wounded Warrior Project and the Gary Sinise Foundation. So my dollars go even further whenever I buy from them. I'm not affiliated with them and they don't even know my blog exists and that I'm talking them up. But please give them a look and place an order if you're so inclined and able or spread the word about them to those who might be interested in supporting them.

Okay, back to these cookies and this recipe. I'm always a sucker for trying out new recipes for chocolate chip cookies. I stopped comparing one recipe to another because 99% of the time, they're good, no matter what the ingredients are or how you make them. 

I will say the same about this recipe. It's good. Crisp edges, chewy middles, that perfect brown sugar caramelization flavor comes through. What makes a chocolate chip cookie for me is the type of chocolate I use. Milk chocolate is my favorite but most people I know seem to prefer semisweet. You can do a mix of both in this recipe or stick to one or the other. It's all personal preference. I do recommend following the directions to let the dough "age" in the refrigerator for 24 hours to develop the flavors further.

I portion the dough into dough balls, cover them and chill them for at least a day but no more than 2 days. If I don't need to bake them then, I freeze the dough balls after. Then I bake directly from frozen dough. Baking from frozen takes a little longer so I rarely time the cookies. I bake just until the cookies are the golden brown color at the edges that I like and the middle doesn't look raw anymore. Let them cool completely or just to barely lukewarm and you'll have the perfect texture.