Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Seemingly in an attempt to simplify the world and eliminate all shades of gray, we have been grouped into or defined by a myriad of classifications. Very few of us left high school without being willingly or unwillingly bound to one group or another. Almost daily there is some unscientific, yet ridiculously entertaining BuzzFeed survey feeding into our underlying need to feel connected to a group, regardless of how fiercely independent, unique, or different we believe ourselves to be. I can't help but wonder if we secretly wish these surveys would tell us something different, validate what we already know, or prove to some of the people in our lives they just don't really know us. It's okay if you don't want to admit being lulled into taking at least one of these surveys for any, some, or all of the aforementioned reasons. For those of you who have not yet been tempted, what are you afraid of? That the survey results will get hacked and everyone will discover your personal theme song, what country music cliche you exemplify, or which 80s movie girl you are? Spoiler alert: Everyone already knows. 

Regardless of our chosen profession, there are yet another set of groups to belong to, to define us. The Innovators, the Early Adopters, the Second Wave Followers, and the Laggards. The smallest of these groups are the innovators, the risk-takers, the ones quick to adopt new and innovative approaches or strategies. The Early Adopters, perennially young and restless are the ones paying attention to the discoveries and lessons learned by the innovators. The Second Wave Followers, skeptics who prefer to take the wait and see if this too shall pass approach before finally caving. And then there are Laggards, the traditionalists, content with the way things are, the last to change. In the food world, I find myself in awe of some of the innovators and going in and out of all of the other groups. Yes, even the laggards. In the spirit of self-disclosure and the risk of skewing to TMI, I must confess to being in a state of kicking and screaming over kale, adding sriracha sauce to almost everything, or topping my favorite foods with kimchi. 

However, I am happy to announce I have joined the group of early adopters of innovator foodblogger Tara O'Brady's chocolate chip cookie recipe. As loyal to and enamored as I have been with the Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe, I am now completely smitten with Tara's as close to chocolate chip cookie perfection as is possible recipe. They are the complete package. Beautiful, crispy around the edges, chewy in the center, chocolatey, addictive, incredibly easy to make. There is nothing high-maintenance about these cookies, yet you might think only high end kitchen tools and ovens could create such chocolate chip cookie perfection. 

Who knew that all it took was a large bowl, a whisk and a wooden spoon. Well Tara knew.

Chopping the chocolate might be the most time-consuming part of the recipe. If you have yet to give up using chocolate chips for your chocolate chip cookies, you should know chopped chocolate is not a passing, this too shall pass trend. There are not enough adjectives to describe the taste and texture Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate Bars bring to this cookie. I would put it in a throwdown against any of the high-end, pricey dark chocolate bars out there.

After reading the advice of other foodbloggers, I decided to wait to bake the cookies until they had a chance to chill in the refrigerator overnight. Forming the dough into balls, placing them on a parchment paper lined tray, and lightly covering them with a plastic wrap before chilling, makes baking the cookies feel effortless.

Approximately three tablespoons of dough goes into making the cookies. To ensure as uniform of a cookie as possible, I used an almost three tablespoon ice cream scoop and then rolled the dough into balls. However, you don't even need an ice cream scoop to make these cookies. 

A light sprinkling of flaky sea salt is the finishing touch.

The cookies spread when they bake. Allow for at least 3 inches of space between each of the balls of dough.

The cookies are baked in a preheated 360 (F) degree oven. Yes, 360 (not 350, not 375). My oven doesn't have a digital temperature setting, so I set it a smidge over 350 degrees. This lack of oven temperature precision may have been responsible for increasing my baking time by a couple of minutes. Before placing the cookies on a cooking rack, they remain on the cookie tray for two minutes.

One taste of Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies and you won't be able to resist giving up your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Unless of course, you take great pride being set in your ways or in belonging to the group known as the chocolate chip cookie laggards. If it has been awhile since you felt real bliss, make these cookies. Because cookie bliss is better than no bliss at all. And feel free to call them your own. 

Recipe

Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies (inspired by Seven Spoons blogger Tara O'Brady's Basic, Great Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe)

Makes 28-32 large golf ball sized cookies

Updated December 2021

Ingredients

1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, cut up into 8 pieces (European style butter highly recommended)

3 1/4 cups (415g) all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/4 cups (260g) light brown sugar, firmly packed (See Notes)

1/4 cup (60g) dark brown sugar, firmly packed 

1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

12 ounces (340 g) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (Recommend Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate)

Flaky sea salt for finishing (Recommend Maldon Sea Salt)

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt butter on lowest heat possible to ensure the butter does not sizzle or lose any of its' moisture. Stir occasionally. Once the butter has melted, remove from heat and set aside.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, pour in melted butter. Add brown sugars and granulated sugar, whisking until sugar has melted. 

4. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition.

5. Stir in vanilla.

6. Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir in flour mixture until barely blended and still a bit floury.

7. Stir in chopped chocolate until all ingredients are combined.

8. Using a large ice cream scooper (large golf ball sized), scoop dough and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Leave at least 3 inches between the cookies. Note: For best results, the dough balls should be refrigerated at least 6 hours or overnight on a lightly covered tray.)

9. Before baking sprinkle each cookie with a bit of flaky sea salt.

10. In a preheated 360 degree (F) oven, bake cookies until the tops are cracked and lightly golden rotating pan halfway through the baking process. Baking time is approximately 10-12 minutes, however, mine ranged from 13-14 minutes. This could be due in part to not having a digital oven. Recommend checking the cookies at 10 minutes and making any time adjustments as necessary.

11. Allow cookies to cool on pan for at least 2 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

12. Enjoy immediately! Store cookies in a sealed container.

Additional notes: (1) You can alter the amounts of light and brown sugars used, but recommending not increasing your dark brown sugar to more than 1/2 cup or reducing the light brown sugar to less than 1 cup. The total amount of brown sugars used will be 1 1/2 cups or 320 g. (2) Chilling the balls of dough at least 6 hours or overnight is a game-changer. When baking each sheet of cookies (about 8-9 will fit on a sheet pan), keep the remaining dough( formed into balls) in the refrigerator. (3) Once chilled, cookie dough balls can be transferred to a freezer ziplock bag and stored in the freezer. When baking, remove frozen cookie balls, place on baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake. Baking time may be one or two minutes longer. (4) If you are not a big fan of dark brown sugar, use all light brown sugar. The inspiration recipe called for the use of light brown sugar only.

The windmill in the Children's Garden at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.