The best chocolate chip cookies

Last Friday was my last day at a job I have worked at for 10 years. A job I love, where I have met many people I have loved. It is time to go but that doesn't make it any easier. 10 years. I grew up in these stores and found my confidence. I met important people. Great, wonderful people with whom I had so much fun. I was very happy there and I'm thankful for the whole dang adventure. I'm also pretty darn thankful for my next adventure, which I have been working towards for years. Life is good and unexpected.

My staff was pretty fantastic my last week with their kind words. Our production crew made me a feast of epic proportions. All the things I wanted to say to them were inadequate. So I made them chocolate chip cookies.  At time when words fail me, I find a chocolate chip cookie holds so many answers. But not just any chocolate chip cookie, the best chocolate chip cookie. I have references. I shared a chocolate chip cookie recipe when I started this blog that I swore was the best but after 100s of batches and tweaks, these have ousted them. I think they are cookie perfection.

These cookies taste a little caramelized from the brown butter. They have loft and chew. Refrigerating them for an hour or more is key and really helps enhance the flavor. Why? No idea. We will call it science. A pretty hefty pinch of salt takes them over the top.

I made them for my staff to say a million thanks. I made them for a little comfort in an emotional week. A chocolate chip cookie can be a powerful thing.

The best chocolate chip cookie
Makes about 18 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.

In a large sauce pan over high heat, add 10 tablespoons of butter. Watch the butter carefully. It will start to bubble, once the bubbles subside some you will see little brown flecks on the top. Pull off the heat. Add the rest of your butter and swirl to melt. Add an ice cube to cool the butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk your cooled butter with both sugars. Whisk in your egg and egg yolk until the surface of the batter looks shiny. Finally, whisk in the vanilla extract. Add your dry ingredients to this bowl and stir with a spatula to combine. Add your chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.

Cover bowl and put in the fridge for at least an hour or up to 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment. Spoon about 3 tablespoons worth of dough onto the parchment and repeat. Put the cookie sheets on the upper racks of your oven. Bake for 10-14 minutes. You want the edges just a little golden brown.