Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know this is highly insignificant, but last Friday it rained. Not like a little drizzle rain or like a ginormous downpour of rain, just… rain. When it rains, I crave cookies. Well actually I crave making cookies, which is completely different than wanting cookies.

The difference between the two is: when I want cookies I long to watch the little dough rounds slowly spread and puff in the oven; I patiently wait for the cookies to cool down before I remove them from the hot pan to my plate, more often than not breaking the cookie in the process; I love pulling apart the warm and soft freshly baked cookie; and I savor each and every gooey bite. When I want to make cookie dough I gather all the ingredients and get everything set up first; I’m totally patient and content with the waiting period for the butter and sugar to cream. Sometimes I get hypnotized by the motion of the beaters and the silky texture of the creamed butter and sugar. I’m fascinated with how the dough can look so dry when you first put in the flour to how smooth and soft the dough becomes. I love taking my cookie scoop and scooping out the dough rounds. Making dough just relaxes me, and it’s something I love to do while it rains. As soon as the rains stop, I kind of get uninterested.

So like it said, last Friday it rained, so I excitedly went to Foodgawker (my absolute favorite site to find recipes I’ve decided) to see the different kinds of chocolate chip cookies I could make. Uhmm, I think I have about sixty-six cookies favorited on that site, thirteen of which are just chocolate chip (no add-ins like oats or M&Ms or whatever). What’s a girl to do? Well I kind of just did eeny-meany-miney-moe, and wound up baking these cookies from Bibberche.

This recipe yields a flat, yet surprisingly chewy cookie. Because I love soft, chewy, and puffy cookies, I can’t say that these are my favorite, but I did enjoy eating them. They have a nice brown-sugary taste to them and they are the perfect color! I know it’s weird to discuss a chocolate chip cookies color, but if I had a lighter chocolate chip cookie in front of me and a slightly darker cookie was placed next to it, I’d go for the darker cookie. It’s more aesthetically appealing, and plus it gives the promise of a rich brown-sugar taste, which I love.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Slightly adapted from Bibberche
Makes about 32 cookies

Ingredients
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup sugar
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten
95 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips (or desired amount)

Directions
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugars together. The butter and sugars will not look creamy because the butter is cold, but once the ingredients have been combined, pour in the vanilla and egg. Beat on medium speed until combined, you may need to scrape the sides of the bowl.

Turn the speed down to low and slowly add in the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium for 30 seconds. Pour in the chocolate chips and mix until the chips have been well distributed throughout the dough.

Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Portion out the dough with a 1 tbsp. cookie scoop (or just eye-ball 1 tbsp.-worth of dough). Place on the lined baking sheet 2 inches apart, the cookies will spread quite a bit. Bake the cookies for 7-10 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 2-3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.