From San Francisco’s Dandelion Chocolate comes an all-encompassing guide covering techniques, at-home kitchen hacks, and indulgent recipes in Making Chocolate.
In order to make the very best chocolate chip cookie in the whole world, or at least to try, we took our favorite parts of all the best chocolate chip cookies in San Francisco and piled them into one. We visited our favorite bakeries, lined up eight cookies in the kitchen, and tasted them blind. Everyone has an opinion about whether a chocolate chip cookie should be thick and doughy or crunchy and crisp. How much chocolate should be in it, and how big should the cookie be? We settled on what I think is the perfect combination of crisp edges and soft insides. As for the chocolate chips, we made our own in the kitchen for a long time before the factory developed a more efficient method than our stove-top hand-tempering habit. By hand, the process involves melting and tempering chocolate, pouring it onto a baking sheet, cooling the sheet, and cutting the chocolate by hand into squares. Alternatively, you could buy chocolate chips from any craft chocolate maker who makes them (ourselves included).
Some classic combinations just can’t be improved. The caramelized, brown-sugary flavors of the cookie blend beautifully with nutty notes and classically chocolatey flavors, and while you could try something fruitier or even earthy, there’s nothing like an original.
Directions
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix on low speed until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in two additions, mixing on low speed to just combine after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Mix on low speed until just combined, about 2 minutes. Add the chopped chocolate and mix on the lowest speed, just until the chips are distributed evenly throughout the dough.
- Although you can bake the cookies at this point, we recommend refrigerating the dough overnight (chilling the dough for at least a few hours produces a chewier, more flavorful cookie with better color and even spreading). When you’re ready to bake, scoop out ¼-cup portions of the dough, roll each into a ball, and press the dough balls down slightly.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the dough on the prepared baking sheets, but do not crowd the cookies; we recommend no more than 6 cookies per baking sheet. They will look enormous.
- Bake for 12 minutes, until golden brown on the edges, rotating the baking sheets 180 degrees halfway through to ensure even coloring. These are delicious served warm, or cool them completely on the baking sheets and store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Reprinted from Making Chocolate. Copyright © 2017 by Dandelion Chocolate, Inc. Photographs by Eric Wolfinger. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
