Decadent Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I feel apologetic about these cookies. They seem to need justification, in the form of a "decadent" before their name. Like many people, my favorite cookies are the large, chewy, thick, bakery-style cookies. But...these were...incredible.

The flavor of a super caramelized, shatteringly crisp (Mary Barry would be proud...just imagine her saying "crisp" in her perfectly articulated British accent) cookie laced with lots of chocolate chips, in a just right batch size of 15 cookies.

I was so excited to try a recipe from Alice Medrich's cookie book. Cookies are my favorite, and she is the queen of chocolate. My cookbooks were lost in the mail (well, the post office hasn't found them 2 months later), so I bought myself this cookbook at my neighborhood used bookstore. I'm so glad I did: the first week, I put approximately 50 post-it flags in the book on recipes I want to try!

So, these cookies. They are unapologetically crisp, despite my apology at the top of this post. They have no egg, contributing to their crispness, and start with melted butter (thank goodness for not having to soften the butter).

The batter is rested overnight in the fridge, or for however long you can spare, which is recommended for lots of cookie recipes. It's a bit fussy, but if you think ahead it breaks up the work nicely over two days. I wanted to try the recipe exactly as written, but on tasting, I think a sprinkle of nice sea salt would not go amiss.

A radically different cookie than both Chips Ahoy and the typical chewy chocolate chip cookie, they are delicious with a glass of cold milk or just snuck in shards from the cookie jar.

Decadent Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 15 large, flat, and delicious cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (1.75 ounces) brown sugar (dark brown is best) 
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (2 ounces) light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces or 1 generous cup chocolate chips or chopped bitter/semisweet chocolate

Method:

1. Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl and mix to combine.
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter, oats, sugar (granulated and brown), corn syrup, milk, and salt. Whisk to combine, then gently mix in the flour mixture. If the mixture is still warm from the butter, let it cool down a bit before mixing in the chocolate.
3. Let batter rest in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, up to probably 3 days would be fine!
4. When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees F. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven.
5. Line 2 baking sheets with foil, dull side up, and put an extra foil liner on a spare part of countertop. Divide dough equally into 15 pieces, roll each into a ball, and place 5 on each baking sheet/liner. Smoosh each ball down until the dough balls are about 3.5" in diameter.
6. Bake sheets 20-25 minutes, rotating and flipping sheets halfway through baking, until the cookies are thin and quite brown. This makes the caramelization and makes them completely dry (that is, amazingly easy to store). Slide the extra liner onto one of the baking sheets and bake the third sheet like the others. 
7. Let cool to room temperature on wire racks, then store in an airtight container as long as they stick around.

Recipe from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich.