Chocolate Chip Cookies - Thin & Crisp

Adapted from David Lebovitz, who adapted it from Pastry Love by Joanne Chang (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019)

Makes about 24 cookies

If you like thin, crisp cookies similar to Tate's, these are for you. If you like soft pillowy cookies, they are not.

225g butter (I use Kerrygold salted) at room temperature
200g caster (superfine) sugar — I order mine from Kalustyan’s
100g firmly packed light brown sugar (I use Domino’s)
1 large egg, at room temperature
45g water  (I use water from the tap)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
245g flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
280g dark chocolate chips (I use Guittard 63%)

Start by beating the egg in a small bowl. Add the water and the vanilla extract and beat again. Set aside.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add the chocolate chips and toss.

Beat the butter and sugars for about 5 minutes in a stand mixer on medium speed until light and creamy. Yes, set a timer.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.

Turn the mixer on to low and beat in the contents of the small bowl — the egg, water, and vanilla mix.

Stir in the contents of the medium bowl — the flour, baking soda, and chocolate chips — and mix until thoroughly combined.

I always refrigerate the dough overnight, dividing the mixture into two metal bowls because it’s easiest to roll them into 45g balls when the dough is cold. I leave one bowl in the refrigerator while I roll the dough from the first bowl.

Bake on parchment-lined half-sheet pans in a 350°F oven, or 325°F convection (I use convection), for 13 to 14 minutes. Fourteen minutes works in my oven. I bake 3 cookies per sheet.

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Note: There are two people whose baking recipes I especially trust and like — Alice Medrich and David Lebovitz. Since I started to bake cookies, they have been the people I turn to. Alice’s Double Oatmeal Cookie is our “house cookie.” On my kitchen shelf that holds my very favorite — and often dog-eared — cookbooks sit Alice’s Flavor Flours and David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen, his not-just-baking book. David Lebovitz can be found on Substack.