Author Notes
In the category of "Great Chocolate Chip Cookies," these get my vote for the greatest. They are Toll House cookies' kin, but I think my nips, tucks, tweaks, and variations on the classic recipe make them their own kind of wonderful. They're thin and crisp and a bit chewy in the center from just the right mix of sugar—granulated sugar for crispiness and brown sugar for deep caramel flavor.
I've made these cookies with just about every kind of chocolate known to humankind with universally satisfying results, but my all-time favorite way is to chop up premium chocolate, not worrying about cutting it into uniform sizes or shapes. Having chunks, chips, and slivers makes the eating more fun, and I love the way the mishmash of shapes looks when the cookies are baked—streaked, marbled, tweedy, and totally tempting.
From Baking: From My Home to Yours (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2006). —Dorie Greenspan
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Ingredients
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2 cups
all-purpose flour
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1 teaspoon
salt (1 1/4 teaspoons if you really like salt)
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3/4 teaspoon
baking soda
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2
sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
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1 cup
sugar
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2/3 cup
(packed) light brown sugar
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2 teaspoons
pure vanilla extract
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2
large eggs
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12 ounces
bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks
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1 cup
finely chopped walnuts or pecans
Directions
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Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
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Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well blended. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts. (The dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen. If you'd like, you can freeze rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, ready for baking. Freeze the mounds on a lined baking sheet, then bag them when they're solid. There's no need to defrost before baking—just add a minute or two to the baking time.)
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Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls.
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Bake the cookies—one sheet at a time and rotating the sheet at the midway point—for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the center; they may still be a little soft in the middle, and that's just fine.
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Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to the racks to cool to room temperature.
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Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.
With the publication her 14th book, Baking with Dorie, New York Times bestselling author Dorie Greenspan marks her thirtieth anniversary as a cookbook author. She has won five James Beard Awards for her cookbooks and journalism and was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. A columnist for the New York Times Magazine and the author of the xoxoDorie newsletter on Bulletin, Dorie was recently awarded an Order of Agricultural Merit from the French government for her outstanding writing on the foods of that country. She lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris. You can find Dorie on Instagram, Facebook, Bulletin and her website,
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