Mia's Life

While this recipe may not be traditionally Italian, it’s simply too delicious not to share. Many claim to have the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, but this version stands out as something truly special. To me, the perfect cookie has a crunchy, crispy exterior with a soft, chewy center—a balance I’ve spent countless attempts perfecting.

This cookie is larger but thinner, with beautifully crinkled edges that give it a rustic, rippled look. My goal was to create pockets of melty chocolate when warmed, and to ensure the vanilla shines through. To keep it from being overly sweet, a sprinkle of sea salt on top adds the perfect touch. And for a rich, toffee-like depth of flavor, caramel became the irresistible finishing touch.

ingredients:

• Granulated sugar 100 grams (1/2 cup)
• Brown sugar 165 grams (3/4 cup)
• Unsalted browned-butter 115 grams (1/2 cup)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste (optional: can add another half tablespoon)
• all purpose flour 155 grams (1 1/4 cups)
• baking soda 1 teaspoon
• 52% cocoa chocolate bar
• soft caramels
• flaky salt (to taste)

instructions:

1. In a small pot, melt the butter on the lowest setting until the color darkens to light brown. This could take around 5-10 minutes depending on the stove.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars and melted butter until a paste forms with no lumps.
3. Sift in the flour and baking soda, then fold the mixture with a spatula.
4. Fold in the chopped chocolate chunks and small pieces of caramel. Chill dough for AT LEAST 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges started to barely brown.
6. Bang the pan repeatedly until you see the cookies flatten and ripples form at the edges. Sprinkle flaky salt over the top.
7. Let them cool on the pan before eating.
8. Enjoy!

TIPS:

These little changes are what make these cookies the best:

1. Do NOT use chocolate chips. They do not create the melty-puddles in the cookie or create enough richness in the flavor.
2. Leavening agent: baking soda only. This makes cookies that are extra chewy and have a little more spread.
3. Vanilla bean paste is a must. Throw away extract if you have it! Vanilla bean pasta has the inclusion of ground vanilla bean powder creating a more intense flavor compared to vanilla extract. Besides vanilla bean paste has cute vanilla specks inside that make it more appealing to the eyes.
4. Lightly browned butter, melted. Browning the butter creates a toasty nuttiness to the flavor of any baked good that you can’t creat from regular melted butter. Melted butter creates a flatter cookie that is more likely to be gooey inside and helps with crispy edges!
5. Be careful not to overtax the dough because this causes the gluten in the flour to toughen resulting in cakier cookies.
6. For a more intense toffee-like flavor and deeper color, chill the dough overnight. The longer the dough rests, the more complex its flavor will be.
7. Used a XL cookie scoop to scoop the dough, as opposed to rolling out balls with my hands. I wanted them to be uniform, plus, scooping helps with the ripply look.
8. After the first 5 minutes of baking, lift up the cookie sheet and let it drop a couple of times. Do it twice more in total , at 7 minutes, then again at 9 minutes.
9. Don’t wait until the cookie looks completely cooked. Take out just when the sides start darkening because the cookies will continue baking while on the hot pan.
10. Pan banging method to deflate the center a little bit and get those crinkles.