Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I finished all of my work for medical school last week.  Now, all I have to do is fill out a couple of forms prior to graduation.  I can't believe that I graduate in less than 2 weeks!  Instead of finishing the forms during the past couple of days.  I choose to go to the lake this past weekend and drive to San Antonio to see my family.  As I write this entry, I am sitting on my parent's couch watching TV.  Ahhh...the life!  Amidst this free time, I choose to go shopping and of course, bake.  I picked this chocolate chip cookie recipe.  This recipe is  from Baking Illustrated from the Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine.  The neat thing at about this book is the fact that is goes through a series of reason and taste testings to evaluate the ingredients in the recipe. (Perfect for a science nerd like me!)

For the recipe and evaluation of the recipe...

Ingredients
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and slat together in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until throughly blended.  Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined.  Stir in the chips to taste.
4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball.  (The recipe makes about 18 large cookies) Hold the dough ball with your fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves.  Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough's uneven surface.  Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart. 
5. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time.  Cool the cookies on the sheets.  Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a wide metal spatula. 

Yum!  These cookies are quite good and easy to make.  Remember though that these are BIG cookies.  Think greater than your fist per cookie.  So if you choose to make smaller cookies, adjust the time otherwise you will end up with crisp and hard chocolate chip cookies.  Overall,  I give them 4.5 out of 5 stars.  They are chewy on the inside and thick...just like the title of the recipe.  My mouth watered as they came out the oven.  It is a rare occurance for me to make a cookie and notice that I have not overdone a portion of the cookie.  I had success with this recipe though.  The outside of the cookies was not crisp but instead, the cookie was evenly cooked!  Woo Hoo!!! These cookies disappeared quickly and were much softer and moister than the slice and bake chocolate chip cookies that you can make.  I will definitely make this recipe again and can't wait to get back in the kitchen.  If you don't have a go to chocolate chip cookie recipe, try this one.  It may become your new standby.  :)