the cure-all cookies

ever since becoming a mother I have been on a quest to find the perfect chocolate-chip cookie recipe.

the kind of cookie that heals heart-ache and repairs those terrible, horrible, no-good,
very bad days.

I have tried A LOT of recipes.

(pretty much every recipe I have ever come across, to be exact ... except this one. You are welcome to try it and compare it to my recipe, if you like. let me know how it turns out ;) )

but I kept running into the same two problems:
either my cookies tasted great but didn't look good
or they looked great but didn't taste as good as they looked

so I decided to come up with the perfect recipe on my own


I really liked Emily's (from Sugar Plum) use of browned butter in her chocolate chip cookie recipe

but, and no-offense Emily because I think you are an awesome baker, they just weren't pretty enough

so I combined the browned butter with a few other elements from recipes I liked and this is what I came up with:

assembling all the ingredients


browning the butter

creaming the other cube of butter with the sugar while the butter on the stove is browning

I love that nutty aroma of browned butter

adding the browned butter and vanilla to the creamed stuff

mmmmmmmm ... my kitchen now smells like caramel

adding the rest of the ingredients with the help of my little chef

Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Preheat oven to 350
Yields at least 5 dozen

2 cups brown sugar
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, browned*
2 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
6-6 ½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. salt
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl add sugars and 1 cup of softened butter. Brown other cup of butter, then add to sugars. Cream sugars and butters. Add vanilla and eggs. Add dry ingredients and mix completely. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

*To brown butter: melt butter over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the foam begins to subside and butter becomes a light tan color. Remove the pan from the heat. The butter will continue cooking even after you remove it from the burner. Add immediately to the sugars. Notice the dramatic change in color: it should be nut-brown and have a toasty aroma. Overcooked butter will have a very bitter taste.