chewy brown butter chocolate chunk cookies.

It's strangely frustrating to be posting about chocolate chip cookies while dying, raging, to make french entremets. I've been browsing through pictures of the aforementioned cakes and now I'm hopelessly obsessed. I want to get started right this instant on one but the mere thought of my never ending to-bake list stops me dead in my tracks. There are probably at least 50 items to be checked off and none of them are entremets, because they are a very recent obsession. I can't bear to add yet another project to my endless list either so I'm just going to maniacally cut down those that currently exist on my list by at least half before I embark on my entremet. Oh boy.

So let's get started, beginning with these cookies.

I've tried so many variations of chocolate chip cookies I find it hard to give them a unique name to properly represent them. "Chewy chocolate chip cookies"- too vague. "Browned butter chocolate chip cookies"- been there, done that. Alas, the best solution is to bombard the name with long detailed descriptions that are specific to that certain batch of chocolate chip cookies. So I apologize, sincerely, truly, if you find it hard to catch your breath while uttering the title of this post because I'm definite that this won't be the last.

the hallmark of a good chewy cookie is its flexibility!

What sets this batch of cookies apart from others is the use of corn syrup for a moister and chewier cookie. If. You don't overbake them, of course. No secret tricks can help if you overbake cookies. Similarly, one of the best secrets to chewy cookie heaven is also simply not to overbake them.

I think these pictures sufficiently illustrate how gooey these cookies are. I'm not particularly proud of them but they do do the trick in bringing across my point well. (They were taken at night- please pardon them! I didn't put in more effort because I knew that almost certainly, despite later editing, the lighting would still make the pictures look horrible. But I managed to rescue them a fair bit.) Ah... brings me back to approximately 734 days ago when I was even more of a rookie photographer than I am now. You can take a trip back to my first few posts and you'll see what I mean. Poor lighting, embarrassing close-ups, things that can lead me to make like an ostrich and bury my head in the ground. At that point of time, I was framing my pictures with a message in mind as a guide. Like, I want to show how fudgy this brownie is, so I position my camera 5 cm away from the brownie to capture the texture in detail. Furthermore, I didn't have a DSLR last time so picture quality was obviously poorer too. Oh and I didn't edit my photos as well because I had not discovered photobucket.com and its wondrous editing tools. (I love you, photobucket!)

super moist. I assure you that its not my drool.

I'm well aware that this is my first post of the new year. Will this set the tone for my upcoming bakes? Maybe. Probably. Conceivably. Argh, who am I kidding?

Yes.

Chewy Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, browned and cooled
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 cup chocolate chunks

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the browned butter, sugars, corn syrup, vanilla extract and salt until homogenous.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes so that the flour absorbs some moisture. It will become moderately tacky and easier to scoop.

Take about 1/3 cup of dough and roll it into a ball. Set it on a lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough has been used up. Refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 325F for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool cookies on the baking sheet.