New Fave

I was pretty disappointed with my first Chocolate Chip Cookie of quarantine, and was eager to test another one. I have so many bookmarked: Alton Brown’s The Chewy, Milk Bar’s Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies, even a Joy the Baker classic. But then Nicole let me know that the owner of Bake Shoppe* was demo-ing some of her recipes on Instagram Live in a collaboration with Chipits** and one of the recipes was for their Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie. I was in!

As I watched Cindy mix up her batch, I saw that the ingredients were very similar to the BA cookie (i.e. brown butter, an extra egg yolk), but there were a few interesting differences. First of all, she creamed the butter and sugar together for 8 minutes. I’ve seen this before in Christina Tosi‘s recipes, which helps you get nice big cookies that spread out, but still have lift and stay chewy. Secondly, Bake Shoppe uses a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips. I’m so used to using semi-sweet or dark, so I was curious to see how this would change up the taste. Finally, these cookies get baked in a cooler oven than I’m used to, for a longer baking time: 325° for 16 minutes (for reference, the BA cookies bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes).

Bake Shoppe CCCs

So what’s the verdict after all this? THESE ARE MY NEW FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES! (For now, anyway!) They’re nice and chewy, you can sink your teeth into them, you don’t need any special ingredients to make them, and they’re quick and easy to mix up (i.e. no chilling or aging the dough!). My only change would be to use all semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, but that’s just a personal preference.

I’m so obsessed with these cookies, and I can’t wait to make them again!

*I falsely accused Bake Shoppe (back then known as The Wedding Cake Shoppe) of using shortening in their frosting way back in 2012 and somehow the owner found the post and set me straight in the comments.  They use Swiss Meringue Buttercream! I just don’t think I’d ever had it before and confused the texture for shortening. Anyway, sorry Bake Shoppe! ILYSM!

**Don’t even get me started on the Chipits shortage in grocery stores over the course of this pandemic! I guess all these amateur bakers were buying them all up to add to their banana bread and I was left with crappy store-brand chocolate chips. I’ll never take you for granted again Chipits! Good thing I complained about this so much that Danielle shipped me a 2.4kg bag from Costco! (Thanks Dani!)

More Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Bake Shoppe’s Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: Bake Shoppe via the Chipits website

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, for browning
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tbsp buttermilk (or sour cream or plain Greek yogurt)
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (all semi-sweet or a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate)

Directions

  1. First brown the butter by adding it to a small saucepan and cooking over medium heat until the butter melts, then foams, then darkens in colour and smells toasty and nutty, swirling often. Pour into a bowl, scraping all of the brown bits out of the saucepan with a spatula, and let cool to room temperature.
  2. While it’s cooling, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
  3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolk, buttermilk and vanilla.
  4. When brown butter is cool, preheat the oven to 325° and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  5. To the bowl with the brown butter, add the room temperature butter, brown sugar and sugar and beat together for 8 minutes.
  6. Add the egg mixture and mix to combine, followed by the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  7. Form the dough into 1/4 cup size balls, and place 6 on a baking sheet (you can also freeze the dough balls). Bake for 16 minutes and let cool on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.