Crispy and Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Are you a crunchy cookie fan? Or, do you prefer chewy cookies? Well, with this recipe, you can have both crunchy and chewy in the same cookie.

Like dark bittersweet chocolate? Or semi-sweet chocolate? Again, you get both in the same cookie. And, lots of chocolate too, which, we think, everyone prefers.

So, this recipe comes from Ad Hoc at Home, by Thomas Keller, and it’s different from his recipe for Chocolate Chunk Cookies that we’ve written up in the past. Those were two types of chocolate in a chocolate cookie dough; these are closer to a true chocolate chip cookie, the kind with the blond cookie dough, so now you can pick and choose which cookie you prefer. Or, if you can’t decide, make them both (but don’t forget to include the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies in the mix).

Ingredient discussion:

You’ll note that we listed most of the ingredients in grams. The original recipe used volume measurements, but, if you look at the amount of flour needed by volume — 2 1/3 cups + 1 Tbs — we think you’ll agree that the weight measurement is easier, provided you have a scale. Using the weight measurements also make your recipes more consistent. If you measure 335 grams of flour, you’ll always have the same amount, but, if you measure by volume, sometimes the flour will be packed more, sometimes less, making your cookies slightly different every time you make them.

For the chocolate, we used Callabaut chocolate chips and Callabaut 70% dark chocolate, both of which we had on hand and think is very good chocolate.

Procedure in detail:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a couple of baking sheets with silicone baking mats (preferred) or baking parchment. With all that chocolate, these cookies will leak some onto the sheet, and baking mats will make for easy cleanup.

Whisk dry ingredients. The original recipe called for sifting the flour and baking soda together, then stirring in the salt; however, we find that, for all-purpose flour, just whisking the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl is sufficient. If it were cake flour (tends to clump), or included cocoa (another clumper) we would’ve broken out the sifter.

Sieve chocolate. We skipped this step, and our cookies turned out okay, but, if you have a bunch of chocolate dust in your chopped chocolate, you can place it in a finely- meshed sieve and tap the sieve several time to get out the particles that will discolor your cookies. If you don’t care, well, don’t bother.

Beat butter. We don’t really understand the rationale for dividing the butter into two portions, but we did it. Maybe it was just to see who’d follow the instructions exactly. Anyway, place half the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Turn off the mixer, add the remaining butter and sugars, then beat until combined. Continue beating on medium until the mixture is light and fluffy (this we understand is to incorporate air into the butter).

Beat in eggs. Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, and beat in each one completely before adding the next. At first, it’ll look shiny, and as if the mixture has broken, but, give it time; the eggs will mix in beautifully.

Add flour and chocolate. Add the flour mixture, and start mixing, either using a spatula or by pulsing the mixer to prevent flour from spewing out. Turn the mixer on and mix on low until the flour is just incorporated. Just to check, scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to reveal any unmixed flour and mix that in, too. Add the chocolate pieces and pulse the mixer to incorporate, then mix for just a few seconds. Again, use a spatula to check for, and incorporate, any pieces of chocolate hiding at the bottom of the bowl.

Portion cookies. We love having an ice cream scoop for portioning cookies. It allows us to make uniformly-sized cookies, which not only look nicer, but bake better, too. If all your cookies are the same size, they all bake at the same rate, so they’re all done at the same time. If you don’t have an ice cream scoop, use a tablespoon to scoop out portions about 2 tablespoons in size, roll each into a ball, and place, eight per, on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between them. They will spread.

Bake. Into the oven for about 12-14 minutes, rotating from front to back and top to bottom halfway through for even baking, until the cookies are no longer shiny on top. They’ll be soft when they’re ready, but they bake a bit more as they cool, and they’ll crisp up.

Cool. Let cool on the baking sheets for about 2 minutes, then carefully lift off cookies using a spatula and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Great cookies! Crunchy and crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Just what we want in a cookie. And, full of chocolate pieces — two kinds! So much chocolate that some cookies were messy to eat, but that’s another thing we want from a cookie, just enough of a mess to make eating cookies fun. These are easy five-star cookies that we’ll be glad to make again.