Happy Thursday, friends.
Back in 2018, I took one too many “puff puffs” and created the “Bettah Cookie.” Orchestrated like I was on a cooking show, I did my best Julia Childs meets Aunt Loretta and created this cookie, wrote down the recipe, and have relied it on it since.
Except, as delicious as that cookie is, I knew I could make it even better. I tried different rolling methods and different ways of culturing the dough, and I found that I really enjoyed the process of challenging myself to do something better, just because. As an empathetic Pisces, I’ve never been inherently “cutthroat competitive”, and in many ways, I always thought that meant I had a lack of drive, somehow.
This cookie dough taught me more about myself than my therapist ever has. This cookie showed me that I do have that drive for success, it just might look different than others. This cookie dough taught me that I don’t have to be competitive to be successful. This cookie dough taught me patience and the pleasantness of enjoying a slow life.
This cookie dough is to me, what bread is to Nancy Silverton.
Simply put, this cookie is transformative.
There are two key things to note before we start:
Your wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla, etc.,) need to mix well before you start adding the flour. It makes such a difference to the texture of the cookie if you allow those ingredients to get nice and fluffy
An organic, natural sea salt is KEY! I’ve tried several, and the best one, hands down is Fleur de Sel Guerande from France. I found mine on Aimee’s Marketplace and I’m hooked. So hooked that Aimee’s marketplace is giving you Free Shipping with Promo Code: LG-FREESHIP. Thanks, Aimee!
Alright, now let’s get into it!
INGREDIENTS:
All Purpose flour
Butter
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Dark chocolate (at least 60% cacao) chips
Brown Sugar
Granulated sugar (but only if you want it sweet! I did not use this but based on proportions, just add in 1 cup of granulated sugar after you add in the brown sugar)
Sea Salt Flakes
DIRECTIONS:
*Before starting, make sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature.
First, sift 2.5 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder together. Then, moving over to your mixer, add in 1 cup of butter and 1.5 cups of brown sugar (I used light brown sugar but don’t sweat if you have a darker one). This is arguably the most important step! Let that mix for a solid 3-5 minutes on medium. The creamier, the better. After you let it mix, add in (2) eggs, (1) at a time, mixing it nice and smooth before adding in the next. Mix that for about 3 minutes at medium and then add in 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mix at medium speed for 5 minutes, and then reduce it down to slow speed.
Once at slow speed, add in your sifted dry ingredients slowly. (Because you don’t want it to poof all over you… learn from mistakes, ha). Then, add your dark chocolate chips- I used half a bag of caramel chips and dark chocolate chips each because I have no cool, and let it mix on low for 5-7 minutes.
Before we go into the next step, If you’re prepping these for another day, take the dough from the mixer wrap it in plastic wrap, and then let it sit in the fridge for 24-36 hours.
If you’re making them for a “day of” service, follow my steps below.
As your dough is mixing, prep your baking sheets with parchment paper (I don’t use parchment paper- I olive oil and flour my pans… but everyone is different.)
Once your dough is mixed, grab your Ice Cream scoop and begin scooping out the dough into full-on scoops. Yes. I know people roll the dough with their hands or do “tablespoon” sizes of dough. I’ve done it all and I am 100% confident that ice cream scoop dough is the way to go. I only did two scoops across to give the dough enough room, but you could probably squeeze in three across. You be the judge.
Once you’re all scooped, take your sea salt flakes and sprinkle them on top of each ball of dough. Then, pop those trays into the freezer for at least an hour.
Ten minutes before serving, take the trays out and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Bake for 12 minutes and serve with some milk.
Enjoy! I can’t wait to see what you make!
As always, I’m grateful you’re here.
You can find reels, Marco shredding a lamb chop, and more on Instagram
And, I’ll be back Monday with a little bit of Soul.