The Best (though not the healthiest) Chocolate Chip Cookie

If you were a cookie what kind would you be?

I would be a maple chocolate chip cookie. Crispy on the edges, soft and chewy in the middle – with pockets of soft chocolate in every bite.  A sweet cookie, with just enough saltiness for contrast. An aesthetically pleasing cookie. A creative cookie – with unexpected surprises. Cookie that is complex in flavor yet simple to make.

I know, I know – this isn’t really a Cucee-healthy dessert BUT I have found a way to healthify it – I only eat one cookie at a time!

A trick in getting the right texture is under-baking it just a tiny bit and then leaving it on a cookie sheet to rest for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. This creates a crispy cookie with a heavenly soft interior.

Don’t forget to eat just one!

The Best (though not the healthiest) Chocolate Chip Cookie

Adapted from Not Without Salt

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup Turbinado sugar
• 1¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. maple extract
• 3½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ tsp. baking soda
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 12 oz. chocolate chips (use the best quality chocolate you can find)
• Coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 360ºF.  Set rack in the middle of the oven.
2. Cream the butter and the sugars on medium-high speed until light, 4-5 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times during this process.  Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at a time.  Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next.  Add the vanilla.  Scrape down the bowl with a spatula.  Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl.  Mix with a whisk.  With the machine on low, slowly add almost all the flour.  Reserve just a bit of the mixture.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the last bit of flour along with the chocolate.  Stir with a spatula until just combined.
3. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out mounds of dough making sure there is about 2 inches between each cookie.  Do not crowd them and there is no need to press the dough down.  Sprinkle each mound with a bit of sea salt.
4. Bake sheets, one at time, until the cookies are lightly golden on the edges and a bit gooey in the center, about 12 minutes.  Do not overbake!  Remove sheet from oven and allow to sit undisturbed for two minutes.  Then carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack.  Repeat with the remaining sheets.

Drink pairing

Definitely a glass of cold milk or iced coffee