Achieving Cookie Nirvana...

When I saw the recipe for these cookies, I was intrigued. It said for perfect chocolate chip cookies that stay moist and chewy, you need to melt the butter first before you mix it with the sugar and eggs:

"...when butter is melted, free water and fat are separated from each other. When this melted butter is combined with flour, the proteins in the flour grab the water and each other to immediately form elastic sheets of gluten. This creates a product with a chewy texture. At the same time, the sugars and fats are working to inhibit gluten formation, which prevents the cookies from getting too tough."

Ok, science is fun! The other tips were to add an extra egg yolk, and - very important - let them cool completely on the cookie sheet - do NOT move to a wire rack!

I used sucanat (dehydrated cane juice) in place of all the sugar, and used a quarter cup less than what was called for (some of the reviews said the cookies were too sweet,) other than that I followed the recipe to the letter. (If you use sucanat, note that it doesn't mix as creamy as regular brown sugar.)

Being the good foodie that I am, I want the best ingredients I can find. That's not important to everyone, but I'm pretty sure I've said before on this blog that I'd cut back on electricity before I cut back on the quality of my food. It's one of my passions...


If you've never used real vanilla, spend the extra few bucks and try it. You'll never go back to imitation.

Melting the butter. Yes, that's the old Visions cookware. I love it! They don't make it anymore, but I find it on ebay or at Goodwill.

Cookie dough bliss!!!

Letting them cool on the sheet. As promised, they stayed soft and chewy and are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted anywhere in my life. Cookie Nirvana has been achieved!

Cookie-face here was an accident. I think the oven mitt brushed against a hot chip or something. You can see the sucanat. It looks rustic. Or, in this case, like freckles. I couldn't stand the way this cookie was giving me the stink-eye. He was the first to go.

Here is the entire recipe, pretty straightforward, maybe a little more vanilla than the norm, but that's another plus. Chewy and Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies If anyone tries this recipe, or even tries the tips (melting the butter and leaving the cookies on the sheet to cool) with their old standby choc chip recipe, let me know how it turns out!