Chocolate Chip Salted caramel Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies are my most favorite to make for a few reasons,
- I love to eat some of the dough (I am convinced salmonella is just a myth made up by people who don't want me to live my best life)
- There is nothing better then a warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie to feed me and my morally bankrupt soul.
- Making any sort of dough is very therapeutic for me.
I prefer chocolate chip cookies that remain soft and gooey. This can be done by slightly under-baking them and adding some cornstarch.
I am sure you have noticed the pockets of caramel oozing out of that chocolate chip cookie in that picture. I thought it would be best if I added chunks of caramel to the chocolate chip cookie dough.
I used a very specific store bought caramel. I have found that Werther's Original Soft Caramels work the best to add into the cookie dough. These caramels manage to stay soft and gooey inside the baked chocolate chip cookies even a few days after baking them. They are GLORRR-ee-UUSSS!
Butter. Butter is a gift from the heavens and in the wonderful, wild, world of baking, it's best to use the best butter you can get your hands on. I use Plugra, because I am way better than you. In this recipe, it is very important to have the butter at room temp (by room temp, I mean it should be soft enough to spread on bread and not rip the bread at all. Very scientific) and partially melt. Let's focus on partially melt, only melt the room temp, fancy butter, until part of it is melted. Not half of the butter, not almost all of the butter, only part of the butter.
A few steps you CANNOT skip.
- The dough needs to be scooped into balls before you refrigerate it.
- You must let the cookie dough come to room temp and then gently flatten the balls of dough before you bake the cookies.
- The eggs must be at room temp, they mix more evenly into the batter and make for more even baking and lighter texture. You can soak the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes to bring them to room temp.
- Bake on parchment paper. NOT WAX PAPER, there is a difference between the two of these papers, wax. Wax paper will burn really funky and ruin your whole experience. No one wants any of that. Don't try to spray the cookie sheets with Pam instead of using parchment paper. The caramel will ooze out while baking and it is a bitch to wash off.
- Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes before moving over to a cooling rack or into your mouth. These things are lava hot out of the oven and need to cool a bit on the cookie sheet so they can firm up a bit.
I know, its weird. I am demanding that you refrigerate the dough (over night is best, but a few hours in the fridge should do) and then let the cookie dough come to room temp before baking. It's all about the butter. If you were to immediately bake this dough and not refrigerate, the cookies will just spread (bake flat) and have a greasy texture. The butter needs to rest and chill before baking to make the best cookie to feed on.
Alright, bake on and report back to me.
Recipe
1 bag Werther Original Soft Caramels unwrapped and each piece cut in half.
(Get 2 bags if you feel you will eat some as you go. Live your best life)
Set aside (hide if you need too till ready to add to the dough)
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch (baking with cornstarch softens the harsh proteins of flour, resulting in tender, soft cookies)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sift these ingredients into a bowl.
Add 1 - 12 oz bag of chocolate chips to the flour, mix together and set aside
3/4 cup butter (I prefer to scale my butter its more precise, peasants, its 170g)
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Place butter into bowl of standing mixer (my beloved Kitchen Aid)
Add both the sugars to the butter and mix very well, making sure there are no clumps.
Add 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk (room temp eggs)
(this is not 2 eggs, its one whole egg and the yolk from 1 egg)
and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract into the butter mixture.
(I prefer to use Vanilla bean paste in this recipe, I love the specks of vanilla bean running throughout the cookies, I still go for a full 1 teaspoon if using this instead)
Scrape the bowl and add the flour and chocolate chips and mix just until combined.
Add the chopped up caramel, they will be sticky, so be sure to separate them and give a quick mix.
Scoop cookie dough into balls. If the chocolate chips aren't sticking to the dough, don't worry, just force those bastards into your scoops, once they are chilled together, they will stick. At this point, it's pretty important that you taste the dough. Live your best life.
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, overnight is best.
Preheat oven to 330 degrees
Place cookie dough balls onto cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment paper and let come to room temp, about 7-10 minutes.
Gently flatten balls with the bottom of a glass and lightly sprinkle sea salt onto the cookie rounds before baking.
Bake 11-13 minutes. They should look soft and slightly underbaked, they continue baking even after you take them out of the oven.
Let cool on the cookie sheets up to 10 minutes before moving to cooling rack or your mouth.