MisterEngineer's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

I've baked chocolate chip cookies since I was a kid.  Back then, the entire family would start "drifting" toward the kitchen as the oven was completing its duty.

Having baked 200 to 300 batches of these in the last couple of years (I baked them for a social table at church); I've modified the recipe again.  Because I'm an engineer, I've tried to describe the process is such a way as to make it repeatable, where anyone can duplicate these.

Let's start:

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar (300 grams)
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons real vanilla
2 sticks (8 ounces) real butter
3 1/2 cups white flour (420 grams)
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
11 1/2 ounces Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips
2 large eggs

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 

Soften the two sticks of butter (8 ounces) in the microwave oven.

Step 2:

Add white sugar and brown sugar.  For best results, weigh the brown sugar.

Add baking powder on one side of the bowl and vanilla on the other (we don't want the baking powder to contact too much moisture at this moment).

Step 3:

Add eggs and butter.

Step 4:

Mix at medium speed for two minutes.

Step 5:

Add chocolate chips.  Notice that the Ghirardelli milk choclolate chips are larger than the semi-sweet chips.  This size difference really helps to make the two chocolates distinguishable in the final cookie.

Step 6:

Mix for one minute at medium speed.

Step 7:

Here's  the place where things often go wrong--measuring the flour. 

Flour compresses easily.  Scooping flour into the cup from the container can result in 30% more by weight than by spooning it from the container into the measuring cup. I've found as much as 10% difference by brands.

The best way is to measure--get the weight of the cup empty then add 120 grams of flour for each cup.

Search online for "measure flour" and you can find lots of advice.

Step 8:

Mix for two minutes at medium speed.

Step 9:

I use an aluminum cookie sheet (one layer--no air cushion) with parchment paper on top.

Step 10:

Using a 3 tablespoon scoop, grab some dough and flatten it off level with the scoop.

Step 11:

Place 12 of these on the cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Step 12:

After removing from the oven, immediately transfer them to a plate (that's what I use) or cooling rack. This produces a nice uniform cookie.

Step 13:

I'm not really a "uniform cookie" kind of guy, so I prefer to freelance dropping balls of dough onto the cookie sheet.

Step 14:

This results in a more random assortment of cookies--in terms of size and chewiness; but it's actually my preferred method.

Step 15:

Perform quality control checks before you release the product!