David Lebovitz’s Great Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you like a serious chocolate chip cookie with classic vibes, this is the recipe. A high chip to dough ratio guarantees lots of chocolate in every bite. Toasted walnuts add crunch, density and a delicious flavor to the overall mix. So good!

Great Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve made a couple minor tweaks to this recipe over many years I've been baking these and they are reflected in the recipe here. I bump the salt to 3/4 teaspoon and I use my 3 tablespoon dough scoop for sizing. David uses cold butter, but I use butter that is closer to room temperature for the creaming step and then chill the dough a bit in a refrigerator or freezer before baking to cut back on spread.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, room temp, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup (130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Instructions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth by hand or mixer. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix the flour mixture into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Scoop the cookie dough into 3-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each pan. Chill for 20 minutes.
4. Bake cookies for 20 minutes or so, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
5. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes

Make about 20 cookies.
Adapted from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz (Ten Speed Press, 2004) - reprinted with permission.