By Alison Roman
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- 5(12,890)
- Notes
- Read community notes
These wildly popular cookies were developed by Alison Roman for her cookbook, “Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes.” “I’ve always found chocolate chip cookies to be deeply flawed (to know this about me explains a lot),” she writes. “Too sweet, too soft, or with too much chocolate, there’s a lot of room for improvement, if you ask me. But no one asked me, and rather than do a complete overhaul on the most iconic cookie known to man, I took all my favorite parts and invented something else entirely. Made with lots of salted butter (it has a slightly different flavor and a deeper saltiness than using just salt — I prefer unsalted butter everywhere else but here), the dough has just enough flour to hold it together and the right amount of light brown sugar to suggest a chocolate chip cookie.”
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:24 cookies
- 1cup plus 2 tablespoons/255 grams total salted butter (2¼ sticks), cold (room temperature if you're using a handheld mixer), cut into ½-inch pieces (see note)
- ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
- ¼cup/55 grams light brown sugar
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½cups/325 grams all-purpose flour (see Tip)
- 6ounces/170 grams semi-sweet or bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped (not too fine; you want chunks, not little shards)
- 1large egg, beaten
- Demerara sugar, for rolling
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)
198 calories; 12 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 21 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 94 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars and vanilla on medium-high till it’s super light and fluffy (3 to 5 minutes for a stand mixer; 6 to 8 for a hand mixer). Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and, with the mixer on low, slowly add the flour, followed by the chocolate chunks, and mix just to blend. If necessary, knead the dough with your hands to make sure the flour is totally incorporated. At this point, the dough should be smooth and feel like Play-Doh with no pockets of flour.
Step
2
Divide the dough in half, placing each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic over so that it covers the dough to protect your hands from getting all sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a log shape; rolling it on the counter will help you smooth it out, but don’t worry about getting it totally perfect. (Don't be afraid to make them compact. Shortbread is supposed to be dense. That's part of why it's so good.) You can also do this using parchment paper, if you prefer, but plastic wrap is easier when it comes to shaping the log. Each half should form a 6-inch log, 2 to 2¼ inches in diameter. Chill until totally firm, about 2 hours.
Step
3
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the outside of the logs with the beaten egg and roll them in the demerara sugar (this is for those really delicious, crisp edges).
Step
4
Using a serrated knife, carefully slice each log into ½-inch-thick rounds (if you hit a chocolate chunk, slowly saw back and forth through the chocolate). If the cookies break or fall apart, just press them back together — the dough is very forgiving. Place them on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart (they won’t spread much). Sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating them all.
Tips
- The cookie dough can be made ahead and stored, tightly wrapped in plastic, up to 1 week in the refrigerator, or 1 month in the freezer. Cookies can be baked and stored in plastic wrap or an airtight container for 5 days.
- If you have Alison's book, you might notice a ¼ cup discrepancy in the volume measurement of flour. That's because NYT Cooking uses a different standard metric cup measurement. Alison uses 145 grams; we use 128 grams.
Ratings
5
out of 5
12,890
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
bl
"If you have Alison's book, you might notice a 1/4 cup discrepancy in the volume measurement of flour. That's because NYT Cooking uses a different standard metric cup measurement."What does this even mean?
joyco68
You’ve inadvertantly replied to a chocolate chip shortbread cookie recipe. The addition of chicken might be a bit off. ;-)
Iniga
Was using a handheld mixture and just couldn’t get the dough to come together at all. Adding chicken probably would have improved the situation.
Sandra
Well. I didn’t want to do all that. So: Preheated oven. 1) Made recipe as written w weighed ingred. Stirred in the chocolate. 2) Prepared an 8” cake pan w butter, parchment paper on bottom, buttered the paper & slightly floured it. 3) Spread unchilled dough in prepared pan, then sprinkled w flakey salt and turbinado sugar. 4) Baked 15-20 min; removed from oven when very lightly browned. 5) Cooled in pan 15 min, turned out onto plate. Cooled another 5-10 min, cut into wedges. Mmmmmm!
Jakey
Why would it be tragically annoying to buy salted butter? That’s the only butter I buy, but even if it wasn’t, the same source that has us scrounging for the most obscure spices & ingredients, suggesting we mortar & pestle our spices from scratch, now apologizes for requiring salted butter? Okay, whatever, thanks!
Noel
Fantastic. I added the zest of one mandarin orange and doubled the vanilla, and they were perfect. If I don't win this office baking day I will face god and walk backwards into hell.
Zan
Used Lindt dark chocolate with orange. Very delicious.
This recipe is both simplified and improved with a food processor, among other changes
Put all ingredients in the bowl and mix until dough sticks together. Remove and knead in mini chips (much better than diced chocolate). Do not put into logs. Refrigerate and when ready to bake, roll into balls, roll the balls in demerera sugar, and flatten with a small glass or some such. Think twice about adding the salt. Even the scantiest BAEing of Maldon seemed to be too much. Brushing egg yolk on the logs made it harder for the sugar to stick. The cookies taste good for several days.
Allie
I've made these 6-7x now, and I've learned:+ Let the dough sit for 12+ hours (overnight) - it’s much better if you do.+ Use half bittersweet, half semisweet chocolate.+ Don’t use a serrated knife, use a normal extra sharp knife, and let the dough sit at room temp for ~10 min before slicing.+ If using a hand mixer, let the butter get to room temp. Makes it easier!As others have shared, they definitely take more like 20 minutes (I'm in Denver @ altitude, as well). Always a crowd pleaser.
Jen
Demerara sugar is a partially-refined raw sugar that is made from the first pressing of sugar cane.Once the extracted cane juices evaporate, you're left with large grain sugar that has a golden brown color and a subtle molasses flavor. The small amount of molasses that remains in demerara sugar allows it to retain a little more mineral and nutritional content compared to granulated sugar.
Kim
No disrespect for the creator of this amazing cookie but I find it "tragically annoying" to have to shave off an additional 2 TBSP of butter. I used 2 sticks of Kerry gold butter and reduced the amount of flour to 300 grams. I also used white sugar (2/3 cup) as brown sugar tends to add moisture to cookies. They cooked in precisely 15 mins. Finally, I didn't roll in egg wash but simply added a sprinkle of turbinado sugar to each 1/2" slice before baking... it was divine !
Lucy
I had the same issue as Ali; the cookies spread, spread, spread; please, ideas on what I could have done wrong? I kept the dough in fridge overnight. Would that have made a difference? Thanks for any suggestions. And, yes, I'm a seasoned cookie baker.
Ames
I made a gluten-free version tonight using Bob's Red Mill cup-for-cup. Not a lot of patience in our house to wait for cookies so I put one log in the freezer & went out to walk the dog. About 20 minutes later the log is perfectly chilled, firm but slice-able. 15 minute bake-time worked perfect! Love the sugary edge and salty top. Still warm, chocolate melts in your mouth with a creamy velvety crumb. Yum.
Elizabeth Stith
Love these. it is imperative to knead the dough with your hands before trying to roll it into logs. Otherwise it is much too crumbly. Did not have demerara sugar but I did use Bourbon Barrel Smoked Sugar, being from Kentucky where we like to eat our bourbon. Worked VERY well.
Sharon
I chopped two 3.5-ounce Valrhona 71% chocolate bars, then put the "choppings" in a wire colander (a fine mesh strainer might be too fine) to remove the very fine, powdery shards (saved these for another use). This yielded chocolate chunks of a size that worked well in these cookies. When mixing the chunks into the dough, I also added about a quarter cup of finely chopped, toasted pecans.
Mangia Muse
This was very easy to make, and tasty, but was not a five star cookie, IMHO. Not even something I'd think of making again, as I've got tons of cookie recipes that are better. I'm surprised it's gotten such high ratings.
tb
Instead of brushing the whole log and rolling it in sugar, I sliced then spun the edges in egg and sugar. Much easier to slice off just a couple cookies this way!Gonna be honest, these are... just fine? Everyone yelling about how they're the best cookies ever set expectations high for me, and while they're certainly good, they're not mind-blowing. I'll keep the recipe in rotation and probably experiment with other flavors and mix-ins, but yeah. A solid cookie, but nothing to write home about.
Donna.
These are THE best cookies in the world IMHO
susan
These are incredibly delicious. I have made them numerous times and they are usually eaten immediately by family and friends. A couple of things: I didn’t notice enough of a difference to coat the outer edge with sugar and egg, so stopped doing it. And, the advice about ‘sawing’ through the chocolate is an important point, makes a huge difference to them cutting cleanly. Finally, I didn’t have flaky salt when making them today so I used kosher salt and they still came out great.
john golden
Total disaster! Dough crumbled after being chilled as I cut them into cookies
Jackie
The key is weighing the ingredients and using good quality ingredients ( I used kerrigold salted butter and 2 TBS of unsalted butter so I didn't have to buy more salted butter which I don't typically use). I read all the notes and was worried - but they turned out great. The only thing I did different from the recipe was put the dough logs in the refrigerator overnight. The recipe doesn't say anything how to cool but I left them on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes.
Steven
20 mins is overcooked. Please don’t cook this long.
z
Soo delish!!
z
These were so good, came out way better than I expected. I used chocolate chips instead of chunks because it was all i had, and they were delish. Cutting the log was definitely the most difficult part, i think next time I will let the log cool a bit before cutting, and use a sharper knife??
notes
Double vanilla, zest of one orange
heather h
I’m not sure why so many ppl are having trouble with this! I followed the directions for a mixer exactly and they turn out great. You mix longer than you think you should and all the flour bits eventually get worked in, just like she says. And yes, they crumble a bit when you cut them, but they are easy to piece back together. No spreading. They bake up beautifully. I’ve skipped the egg/sugar on the edges when I was lazy and honestly didn’t miss it. The flavor of these cookies can’t be beat.
Claire T
I made batches of these to give out for Christmas last year. Instant hit. I shipped them from Florida to Chicago and they remained intact and reportedly delicious. My boyfriend could not be trusted alone with them- more than once I came home to find him in a sugar coma on the couch. I experimented and found that leaving out the chocolate in the initial bake and dipping & drizzling them in melted chocolate after cooling had an elegant effect.
jj
Half recipe with less sugar 40g white
jblack
Great recipe! If you follow it well then it’ll come out like the picture! slightly firmer than a regular chocolate chip because these are shortbread. I loved the crunchy texture on the outside and a softer shortbread middle. Saved one roll and made it a few days later.
11 year old chef
Very nice, delicate. We overcooked the first batch, making them dark brown and very crispy. Then the second batch, we undercooked, but preferred it because it tasted chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Very good! We’ll make it again.
Private notes are only visible to you.