All cookies can be categorized into one of three categories: cakey, chewy and crispy. Depending on your tastes, you may gravitate toward particular kinds of cookies that fall within your preferred category. One of the best things about chocolate chip cookies is their ability to be transformed into any and all of these three classifications. By tweaking your basic recipe just a touch in one direction or the other, you can completely transform your sweets to fit your taste. With this in mind, I started thinking about my own chocolate chip cookie recipe. Generally, I shoot for chewy cookies that lay a bit flatter to the pan. But, while enjoying one with a glass of milk recently, I started daydreaming about a  variety that was a little cakier and would absorb a lot of liquid when dunked into said milk. So the other day I decided to make it happen. 

I figured if I was going to depart from my usual chewy cookies, I should really go for it. I wanted these cookies to be almost like mini chocolate chip cakes. I knew I would need to add more flour to my recipe, and the butter component would need to change. I ended up adding more flour and salt, and melting the butter completely before adding it to the recipe. The resulting cookies had the exact texture I was looking for, and remained tall and proud when baked. No melting down into flat pancakes for these treats! Oh no. They held up to the heat like champs and made me fall in love with chocolate chip cookies all over again. If you like cakey, dense, milk-stealing cookies, then these are for you!

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies (Yield: ~2 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

100g granulated sugar

55g light brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

200g a.p. flour 

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt 

3/4 cup chocolate chips or chunks (or both!)Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 375F.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix together the melted butter and sugars until completely combined and mixture appears creamy.3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

4. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix just to combine. (If you mix too much at this stage, the cookies will become tough.) You should be able to pick up the dough at this point and not have a sticky mess on your hands. If your dough is still a little wet, add more flour one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.5. Add your chocolate chips and mix them in by hand until evenly dispersed throughout the dough. 6. Roll tablespoon-sized pieces of dough into balls and arrange on parchment or SilPat-lined sheet trays, allowing 2″ between each cookie.7. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven, until they appear dry on the outside. They will remain pale, so don’t wait for them to turn golden before you pull them or they will be overdone.8. Allow cookies to cool completely (if you can) and enjoy with a tall glass of ice-cold milk. See how nice and puffy they stayed! I was so excited when I pulled them out of the oven. And they don’t disappoint as a milk companion either! Their dense texture allows for maximum absorption and they retain all the buttery, brown sugary goodness of other variations of chocolate chip cookies. If you like cakey cookies, you should really try this recipe. And if you think you don’t, you should try it anyways! You may surprise yourself and find a new favorite midnight snack. 

Do you guys prefer chewy cookies, or are these right up your alley? Any thin and crispy devotees out there? 

Chef’s Tip:

To make mixing the chocolate chips into the dough easier, toss them in a teaspoon or two of flour first. This will help the chips stick to the dough, rather than slide through it. The butter content in the cookie dough will coat the chips and make them greasy, making it hard to keep them in the dough, but a light flour coating with bond with the fat and hold them in place.

xo – Cassie