[0 - 1] - I'm Lish Steiling.
[1 - 2] I'm a professional chef,
[2 - 3] and today I'm gonna show you
[3 - 7] how to make bakery-quality cookies at home.
[7 - 10] Today, we're baking decadent, crispy on the edges,
[10 - 12] soft and gooey in the center,
[12 - 14] chocolate chip cookies.
[14 - 16] This is Chocolate Chip Cookies 101.
[18 - 21] This cookie has a slightly crispy edge
[21 - 24] where it's almost a little caramelized in texture,
[24 - 26] and the middle stays nice and soft.
[26 - 28] These cookies actually come together
[28 - 30] as a dough much faster than a normal cookie,
[30 - 33] but it does have to be refrigerated
[33 - 35] or frozen for about an hour before baking,
[35 - 37] and it makes a huge difference.
[37 - 38] It lets the dough hydrate.
[38 - 41] It just lets all the flavors marry and meld,
[41 - 46] so it yields a really good bakery cookie. [upbeat music]
[46 - 50] I'm gonna start by mixing together the dry ingredients.
[50 - 52] I'm using bread flour here,
[52 - 54] 385 grams of it.
[54 - 56] I prefer bread flour for these cookies
[56 - 60] because it guarantees a softer, chewier center.
[60 - 62] So I'm using a scale just because weighing
[62 - 64] is the most accurate method
[64 - 68] of getting this consistent cookie every time you bake.
[68 - 70] There's a lot less room for error,
[70 - 72] and you get a bakery-style cookie that's reliable.
[72 - 75] So I have baking powder and baking soda here,
[75 - 78] and they're both three grams.
[78 - 81] So we use both leavening agents in here
[81 - 82] because they both do different things.
[82 - 83] Both are leaveners,
[83 - 85] but the baking powder also helps tenderize the cookies,
[85 - 87] so that you get that nice crumb.
[87 - 89] You want them to be evenly distributed
[89 - 90] throughout the dry ingredients
[90 - 93] because God forbid there's a pocket of baking powder
[93 - 95] or baking soda in a cookie.
[95 - 98] And then the four grams of kosher salt go in,
[98 - 100] and that's your dry ingredients.
[100 - 102] I'm starting with 226 grams of butter.
[102 - 105] I actually start with all of my ingredients cold.
[105 - 107] When you start with cold butter,
[107 - 110] you get layers of, pockets of like steam,
[110 - 113] like pie dough or croissant dough, right?
[113 - 115] So you get this like layered effect.
[115 - 117] I'm just gonna schmear it around.
[117 - 118] I'm not trying to cream it.
[118 - 120] Like, really quick.
[120 - 124] So I'm just schmearing the butter here,
[124 - 127] and right there.
[127 - 129] You can see it's loosened up a little bit,
[129 - 132] but it's not actually whipped.
[132 - 133] You're not getting air into it.
[133 - 135] That was like 15 seconds,
[135 - 137] and that's all that it takes. Onto sugars.
[137 - 140] We have 200 grams of light brown sugar here.
[140 - 141] Light brown adds sweetness,
[141 - 143] but also softness in the cookie,
[143 - 146] all relating back to that tender center,
[146 - 149] and 145 for granulated sugar.
[150 - 151] It's a nice balance of flavors.
[151 - 154] The brown sugar making them a little bit softer.
[154 - 156] You also add that undertone of molasses,
[156 - 158] so they both have their roles,
[158 - 161] just adding sweetness or adding more character, and tenderizing,
[161 - 163] and making it delicious.
[163 - 164] You're just gonna schmear it together.
[164 - 169] You don't actually wanna cream it. [mixer whirring]
[169 - 170] Right about there.
[170 - 171] I don't wanna overmix it
[171 - 173] 'cause I wanna keep that butter cold.
[173 - 174] So the texture right now,
[174 - 176] you can see it's almost like the butter
[176 - 178] is just coated in the sugar.
[178 - 180] That's what we're looking for.
[180 - 182] So we have eggs.
[182 - 184] Gonna crack into a bowl,
[184 - 188] so that we make sure that there's no shell. Two eggs.
[188 - 191] 10 grams of pure vanilla extract.
[191 - 195] At this point, it's actually gonna look kind of separated and broken,
[195 - 200] but just trust the process. [Lish laughing] [mixer whirring]
[203 - 208] You can see there's still a little bit of butter in there.
[208 - 210] It's kind of broken a little bit.
[210 - 213] Looks a little separated, if you will. That's okay.
[213 - 215] It's gonna come together now.
[216 - 219] All of the dry ingredients are in at once,
[219 - 220] so just very slow,
[220 - 221] bring it together.
[221 - 224] You're gonna just beat it until it just comes together.
[224 - 226] There should still be a few streaks of flour in it.
[226 - 230] If you overdevelop the gluten, you'll get a tough cookie.
[230 - 232] Nobody wants a tough cookie.
[232 - 234] There's still a little bit of flour visible,
[234 - 235] but that's okay,
[235 - 237] because we are now going to add our chocolate.
[237 - 239] We have two kinds of chocolate,
[239 - 242] 145 grams of bittersweet chocolate
[242 - 245] and 140 grams of semisweet chocolate.
[245 - 247] You can use milk chocolate,
[247 - 248] you can use white chocolate,
[248 - 249] whatever kind you want.
[249 - 251] I love the hand chop.
[251 - 254] I think that it gives you pockets
[254 - 257] of oozy, melted chocolate.
[257 - 259] Gives you little shards of chocolate
[259 - 261] and specks of chocolate throughout the cookie.
[261 - 263] You could absolutely use chocolate chips in this.
[263 - 268] My suggestion would be to hand chop about half of the chips,
[268 - 270] so that you get some of those little shards.
[270 - 271] This is what it looks like
[271 - 273] when it actually all comes together.
[273 - 274] It's now cohesive,
[274 - 277] but there are still little specks of butter,
[277 - 279] and all of that chocolate is distributed in.
[279 - 283] So the key here is, again, not to overmix the dough
[283 - 285] because you want those little specks of butter in there.
[285 - 286] You don't want it creamed
[286 - 287] and distributed throughout
[287 - 290] where it's gonna be a little melty.
[290 - 290] This looks perfect.
[290 - 292] So we're ready to weigh our cookie.
[292 - 296] We're gonna go for about 120 grams per cookie.
[296 - 298] So these are big cookies.
[298 - 301] This is similar to Levain style,
[301 - 304] not quite as biscuit-y.
[304 - 307] I am using a 1/2 cup measure here
[307 - 310] because it's about the size of what the cookie will be.
[310 - 312] You can do it by hand.
[312 - 314] I just prefer not to use a scoop.
[314 - 317] A scoop makes it almost too perfect, right?
[317 - 319] You're gonna have the perfect round cookie.
[319 - 321] I like perfectly imperfect.
[321 - 325] So here are our 120 gram cookies all weighed out.
[325 - 327] Popping them in the freezer for about an hour
[327 - 329] because I want the dough to rest and absorb,
[329 - 331] and let all the flavors marry,
[331 - 333] but also so that they don't bake too quickly
[333 - 334] when you put them in the oven.
[334 - 337] The outside will be slightly frozen,
[337 - 338] so they'll keep a little bit of their texture
[338 - 339] and their height,
[339 - 344] exactly what we want. [upbeat music]
[345 - 347] These cookies are fresh out of the freezer,
[347 - 349] nice and cold and firm.
[349 - 350] Now, they're going in the oven,
[350 - 353] 375 for about 19 minutes.
[353 - 355] You wanna rotate them halfway through.
[355 - 357] Keep an eye on 'em.
[357 - 359] Might go a little bit longer or a little bit less,
[359 - 369] but 19 tends to be the sweet spot. Let's go. [upbeat music] Warm cookies.
[369 - 371] I like to give 'em a little smack,
[371 - 373] just 'cause it settles them
[373 - 376] and kind of encourages those little craggly bits.
[376 - 378] These were in for about 19 minutes.
[378 - 380] I rotated them halfway through.
[380 - 382] So you've gotta take a look at this, right?
[382 - 384] All of the craggly bits,
[384 - 386] these edges, they're not perfect.
[386 - 387] It's still a round cookie.
[387 - 388] Don't get me wrong.
[388 - 390] But it has all these little crispy bits,
[390 - 394] and the characters of the peaks and valleys on the top.
[394 - 397] We're gonna try to let these rest for 10 minutes on the tray
[397 - 398] and then move them to a wire rack.
[398 - 401] These cookies, in particular, I tend to remove
[401 - 404] when the center still looks slightly underbaked.
[404 - 406] You can tell just by pressing on it.
[406 - 409] It should be pretty much set around the edges,
[409 - 410] but still a little soft in the middle,
[410 - 413] and that's exactly where these are.
[413 - 416] If the center is completely loose, where it's liquid molten,
[416 - 418] that's a little too underdone,
[418 - 421] but a little slightly under is good in this case.
[421 - 424] You can really tell just by looking at it if it's underdone.
[424 - 427] You'll see a difference in the finish of the cookie.
[427 - 431] It will be more glossy in the very underdone part
[431 - 433] versus matte where it's baked.
[433 - 436] I'm moving them over to a wire rack to cool completely
[436 - 437] because at this point,
[437 - 439] they've now carried over as much as I want them to
[439 - 441] on the warm tray,
[441 - 443] and now I want them to just completely cool
[443 - 444] without any residual heat.
[444 - 446] I think it's time to taste.
[446 - 448] Let's see what we have here.
[448 - 452] Ooh, chocolatey goodness.
[452 - 453] Look at that.
[453 - 457] Should I take a bite? I think so. [upbeat music]
[457 - 459] Soft in the middle.
[459 - 461] Crunchy on the outside.
[461 - 463] Look at that chocolate.
[463 - 464] Look at those pockets.
[464 - 466] Don't you just wanna eat the whole tray?
[466 - 470] This cookie is so worth making it at home.
[470 - 473] It's warm chocolate chip cookies whenever you want.
[473 - 475] You can freeze them individually.
[475 - 476] Bake off one or two.
[476 - 478] Fresh whenever you want it.
[478 - 482] You're in control for a delicious chocolate chip cookie.