The Greatest Chocolate Chunk Cookie in the World

There’s nothing ordinary about Radio Bakery’s chocolate chunk cookie. Read all about its expert engineering and how it made me trust my own process again.

This is a chewy, gooey, crisp specimen of a cookie. It’s outstanding. If you want to dive right in, here are a few things to note:

I’ve included chef Kelly Mencin’s specific recommendations for butter, flour, and chocolate in the recipe. If you want to walk right into a supermarket and get the closest approximations so you can make this right now, pick up whatever brand of bread flour is on offer. Baker’s Chocolate makes a 56% semi-sweet chocolate bar, which is a good substitute for the 58% that Mencin calls for. Semi-sweet chocolate chips will be close to the 70% pistoles she uses.

• Don’t short the 10-minute butter-and-sugar creaming time. It’s key to the cookie’s chewy texture.

• At the end of the mixing process, use a spatula to make sure the dough is completely emulsified, all the way down to the very bottom of the bowl and inner crevices of the beaters.

• The overnight resting period is also hugely important to hydrate the dough. I know: torture. You can bake off a couple today, but chill the rest of the batch for tomorrow! It’s worth it.

• If you have a scale, go with the weight measurements. Easier/faster. If not, the volume measurements work too!

• If you’re using electric beaters and not a stand mixer, go by the visual cues. Timing may be a bit longer!

• Try to let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes before eating. Not easy. But Mencin swears this wait time helps them achieve peak flavor.

Share

This week’s written recipe (PDF plus plain text) is posted below for my paid subscribers. Thank you!! Your support goes right back into my work reporting and developing recipes, shooting videos, and writing about all of it. If you’re reading this, please hop the fence and join us!...