Pretty Near Perfect Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Another chocolate post, another cookie recipe. I've been absent for a while but trust me, these babies are worth it. I apologise in advance for the lack of and quality of the photos, as these were taken on my phone on the day but I will definitely look to update once I get chance.

I've baked many (and I truly mean MANY) batches of cookies and each time I tweak it slightly to work to my own tastes. Whilst I've been at home at Mum's this past weekend, I decided to execute my ideas in my latest cookie experiment.

First things first- what makes a 'perfect' cookie? Well to me, they need to be crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, rich, buttery and fragrant with hints of vanilla without being overly sweet. The chocolate chunks needs to be well dispersed throughout but the amount shouldn't be so much that all you get are bites of chocolate. As much as I love chocolate, I find these types of cookies a bit too sickly and prefer to let the dough shine when it comes to making my own.

One of my favourite cookie recipes is the famous NY Times Cookie and yes, there is a bit of work involved and a lot of patience needed whilst the dough chills in the fridge for 24-36 hours, the dept of flavour you get from an 'aged' cookie dough is so much more than what you get from a standard dough.

When I started this particular cookie experiment I was trying to see if I could get that extra depth of flavour in the dough without having to chill the dough for 24-36 hours. My solution? Browned butter.

Ahh yes, browned butter aka beurre noisette is the heavenly ingredient with a wonderfully complex, nutty fragrance, created by cooking down butter until the moisture evaporates leaving pure buttery goodness and bits of browned milk solids. Sure, you're reducing the chill time and adding to this stage of making browned butter but the results are just so good! You can always make the browned butter in advance and leave in the fridge for when you need it. I chilled the dough overnight before baking around 12 hours later and I couldn't detect any discernable taste difference between the 12hour batch and 36 hour batch. The only difference was maybe the 36 hour dough didn't spread as much during baking. However it's worth noting that browning butter removes the water content (a 250g block of butter would probably get you around 140g once cooked) and to properly cream the sugars together you need moisture, hence I've used half browned and half regular butter.  Either that or you'll have to reintroduce moisture somewhere else. If I get chance I'll probably experiment with the ratios!

Few things that I always do/ look out for when I make my cookies-

1. Use a mix of bread flour and plain flour. The higher gluten content allows for the slight denseness that I feel a cookie needs
2. Use a mix of caster sugar and soft brown sugar. Caster sugar creates the crispness whereas the soft brown sugar will add to the soft gooeyness. I prefer to use dark brown soft sugar for a deeper molassy kinda taste but light/ muscovado would also work nicely too.
3. Cornflour/ corn starch. I use approximately 1tbsp per 125g flour. Cornstarch gives cookies the thickness
4. Good quality vanilla extract NOT vanilla essence or flavouring. I like to use Nielsen Massey vanilla extract. It's expensive but the flavour is much more prominent than for example, your standard supermarket brand. (You can however, also buy Nielsen Massey vanilla in the supermarkets.)
5. Chill the dough. I like to 'age' the dough in the fridge at least overnight before baking. This allows flavours to develop and allow some of the moisture to be absorbed by the flour. Most importantly this solidifies the butter and reduces the spread of the cookies during baking so they don't turn into thin crispy pancakes!

Apologies for the long winded post but for me I love the whole science behind baking- possibly more than eating the product itself! I won't say these are 100% perfect as there is always room for improvement but for now, these are pretty damn good!

PRETTY NEAR PERFECT TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES
Recipe based on NY Times Cookie
Yields around 30 large cookies

Note: Recipe will take 1-2 days in advance to make

Browned Butter

250g unsalted butter

Cookie Dough

240g plain flour
240g strong white bread flour
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp cornstarch
140g browned butter
140g salted butter
250g soft dark brown sugar (or light if you don't have dark)
255g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
100g white chocolate, chopped into chunks (mine were approx 0.75- 1cm cube sized)
100g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks (mine were approx 0.75- 1cm cube sized)
100g milk chocolate, chopped into chunks (mine were approx 0.75- 1cm cube sized) 

1. Make the browned butter. In a light coloured, medium sized saucepan- melt the butter over a medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until it turns a pale golden brown and the milk solids turn into flecks of reddy brown colour. The butter at this stage will smell lovely with a nutty aroma. Be careful not to heat the butter too long as it can burn quite easily in a matter of seconds. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
2. Sift the flours, bicarb of soda, baking powder, cornstarch and salt into a bowl and set aside. 
3. Cream the sugars, browned butter and salted butter using a stand mixer and paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract.
4. Pour the sifted dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on low until just incorporated. Add the chocolate chunks and mix on low until evenly dispersed.
5. Line a baking tin using baking parchment/ greaseproof paper (The tin I used was approximately 13" x 8" x 1.5" high) and press the cookie dough into the tray. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for around 12hours or overnight. 
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a few baking trays with baking parchment. Cut the chilled dough into 1.5 inch cubes. Bake using the middle shelf of the oven for around 9.5- 10minutes for a softer gooey cookie. 10-12 minutes for firmer, slightly more crisp cookie. Cool on the tray for 10minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

NOTES:

• The recipe makes a lot of cookies...feel free to half the recipe to make less. I realise not everyone has use of a stand mixer so halving the recipe should in theory make it more manageable if you're making these by hand/ electric handwhisk.
• If you don't have a baking tray to press the dough into - roll out a sheet of clingfilm and pressing the dough into a 1.5 inch thick slab also works. Wrap up with clingfilm and chill as per instructions.
• If using browned butter that has been made in advance i.e. it has solidified - use as regular butter and cream with the sugars as you would do normally. 
• I prefer to cut my cookie dough into cubes as it's much easier and less messy than rolling into balls. It might give slightly neater looking cookies using the ball rolling method but the cubing method gives a more rustic look, which I like! The cubes melt into pretty neat circular shapes anyway...