Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies (with notes by Annie) 2 sticks unsalted butter (I use salted....it doesn't matter which one you use) 2 1/4 cups bread flour (if you don't have bread flour, just use all purpose and increase it to just under 2 1/2 cups.) 1 teaspoon kosher salt (kosher doesn't matter, I use any old salt) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/4 cups brown sugar 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 tablespoons milk 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips Hardware: Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)(not necessary...you can roll the dough into balls....the disher just makes it easier) Parchment paper (parchment does help reduce the spreading of the cookies....I recommend it, but I have just used baking sheets with no parchment and they are fine) Baking sheets Mixer Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. (Geez! I just use the microwave!!!) Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. (Annie's easy tip: instead of sifting the flour, salt and soda together, I add the salt and soda to the butter, sugar mixture below, cream it, add the eggs, milk and vanilla, and finally the flour and chips. I hate sifting. For cookies, it's kind of unnecessary.) Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container. (Ok, Alton says to chill the dough THEN scoop it. What a fool! Once you take the dough off the mixer, scoop it out while it's soft (and it will be pretty soft)and put all your cookie balls on a baking sheet and then refrigerate them. Not only is this easier on your hands, but the dough chills down a LOT quicker. Then just take however many dough balls you want out of the fridge, and bake them. You can even store the dough balls in the freezer, and bake them straight from there whenever you have a craving for a fresh hot cookie!) Two key points with this recipe: Cold dough Hot oven The third key to this recipe is that the butter is melted.....because the butter is melted, it prevents too much air being whipped into the dough when you cream it. Too much air=too much spread=flat cookies.

Is this more than you wanted to know? Hee hee. Bet you'll like this recipe!!! Cheers....Annie