1 ½cupextra dark chocolate chips or bittersweetuse more or less as desired
Instructions
Beat together butter and both sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed for 1-2 minutes. The mixture will become pale and a bit lighter.
Add egg to butter mixture, beating with mixer until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla, baking soda and salt.
By hand, stir in flour until just blended; stir in chocolate chips.
Using a generously heaping tablespoon measure, scoop up 14 mounds of dough and arrange on a foil lined plate. Chill until firm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or for crisper edges and softer centers, 375F. Have ready two ungreased or foil lined cookie sheets. You can line them with parchment if you want, but they the cookies will spread less if you use regular foil or just leave the cookie sheets ungreased.
Arrange dough mounds about 2 ½ inches apart on cookie sheets (7 to a sheet).
Press down centers just slightly. Bake 1 sheet at a time on center rack for about 12-15 minutes or until edges are browned.
If the cookies spread while baking, use the back side of the tip of a spatula and gently push the edges inward.
Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for about 3 minutes, then transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
The amount of egg is strange, but the end result is worth it. You could probably get away with using a jumbo size egg, but I typically have large or extra large eggs so I use an egg and an extra tablespoon. If you have a scale, just beat two eggs together and weigh out 70 grams.
Cookies made with chilled dough have a slightly better texture and bake up thicker. I like to bake a few right away, then keep the rest of the dough mounds in a heavy duty zipper bag in the refrigerator or freezer to be baked as needed. You'll probably have to increase the baking time if you are baking cookies that are chilled through and through.
For crisper edges, bake the cookies at 375 F. and adjust the baking time. A higher temp should give you paler centers and darker edges. If you bake at 375 the cookies will have very brown edges and pale centers. Pull the cookies out even if the middles look a little underbaked. They will bake internally as they cool.
If you add the sugar to the butter while it is still hot, the hot butter may melt the sugar and you may get shiny cookies (this has happened to me on occasion). If you do add the sugar to the butter while it's hot, the dough will probably require some more chilling.
The amount of chocolate chips seems really high, but if you like chocolate you should be happy with the results. Even though the dough seems packed with chips, the cookies spread in the oven and the ratio of chips to dough seems pretty reasonable. Also, since these cookies are sweet, I use extra dark (Guittard) chips to offset the sweetness a little. Toasted nuts are always a good addition, too.
If you use chunks of chocolate rather than chips, be sure to chill the dough. Sometimes chunks of chocolate, depending on the brand, cause the cookies to spread more.
Using Plugra makes the cookies slightly thicker and denser. Other European style butters may not yield the same results, but Plugra works well.
Bread flour also helps curb spreading.
These have salty kick to them with the full ¾ teaspoon. You can use less if you want.
