Thin, chewy and buttery - Alexis's Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
What do you call an afternoon spent eating Martha Stewart's Fried Chicken 101 for lunch and baking Martha's daughter's favorite chocolate cookies while watching the Martha Stewart Show? I call it Martha Immersion Monday. The only things missing were a Chow at my feet and a celebrity at my elbow.
With out-of-town guests coming for a Saturday wedding at our house, I decided to create a little care package that included Alexis's favorite brown sugar chocolate chip cookies. These became our family favorite after I baked them for the Take Comfort party I hosted in March.
The care packages, along with a bottle of sparkling lemonade, are ready for hotel delivery.
Unlike more traditional chocolate chip cookies, these chewy treats are so thin that the chocolate chips rise up like mini Mount Whitneys. I think it's the mass quantity of butter - one whole pound (four sticks) of it - that's responsible for the rich taste and the flat-as-a-crepe shape.
The Alexis favorite uses twice the amount of butter found in classic Nestles Toll House recipe. And it's four times the amount of butter used in the infamous Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe that went viral before personal computers even existed. (Remember Xerox machines and intra-company memo envelopes?) Even the recipe that the NY Times recently dubbed "the best" comes up a stick and a half short.
Alexis's Favorite
Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking sheets (No need for the "more" butter if you're using Silpat mats or parchment paper)
- 3 cups packed light-brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups best-quality chocolate chips (I use 2 cups.)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment; set aside.
- Cream butter until smooth; add sugars, and beat until smooth.
- Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Into a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Slowly beat dry ingredients into wet mixture.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Drop 2 to 3 tablespoons dough per cookie onto prepared baking sheets; space dough at least 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove cookies from baking sheets, and allow to cool on baking racks.
So when people ask me, "What makes these cookies so good?" I answer, "It's the butter, baby."
