Now that the kids have returned to school, I suggest you prepare these homemade salted dark chocolate chip cookies as a special snack for them…and, of course, also for you!
Although I’ve experimented various times with making chocolate chip cookies lighter, there are times when I just crave the classic recipe, well almost classic. I like to use raw cane sugar instead of plain white sugar, I prefer vanilla bean seeds to extract, I like to fill the dough with dark chocolate chips or a shaved dark chocolate bar and I like to sprinkle a little sea salt on top of the cookies to contrast with the sweetness.
Food has the remarkable ability to transport me to wonderful memories. Living 5,377 miles from where I grew up seems far away, but one big bite of a chocolate chip cookie and a gulp of cold milk brings me back to the special days after school when I’d walk through the door to smell freshly baked cookies. The house would be warm, my mom would be standing in the high ceiling kitchen laying the cookies out on brown paper to cool. I would drop my school bag and take one to reveal a buttery imprint.
Moms’ have a special way of knowing about the little things to cheer up their kids. A little note in the lunchbox, a hug of encouragement after a heartbreak and of course those special chocolate chip cookies.
This post is sponsored by Smeg. I love their stylish 1950’s appliances that make baking and cooking so much easier!
- Makes 24 cookies
- 12 tablespoons butter (3/4 cup, 170g), softened
- 1 cup (200g) raw cane sugar
- ½ cup (85g) packed dark brown sugar
- Seeds from 1 vanilla bean (or ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 2 eggs
- 3 to 3½ cups (430 to 500g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (8g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- 1½ cups (175g) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (not more than 70%)
- Preheat the oven to 350°C (176°C).
- Put the butter and sugars into a stand mixer equipped with the flat beater attachment. Beat on speed 1 until the mixture is nice and creamy.
- Add the vanilla bean seeds and eggs. Mix for 10 seconds or just until the mixture is combined.
- Add 3 cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until the dough comes together in a ball. If it appears sticky add a tablespoon of flour at a time until you can touch the dough with out it sticking to your finger.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon or spatula. Now roll the dough into 24 balls roughly the size of a walnut. Place them spaced out on an ungreased cookie sheet. (They will expand when baking so make sure there is about 1½ inches of space between the cookies.) Bake for 10 minutes. Let them cool for 20 minutes on a cooling rack. Eat with a big glass of cold milk!
- Conservation: the cookies will keep well in an airtight container or frozen. If freezing, let the cookies cool completely and line them in an airtight container separated by parchment paper if needing to stack.
