One bowl chocolate chip cookies

While every chocolate chip recipe that I come across, it is always prefaced with 'perfect', or 'the best', regardless whether it's the Toll House , the NY Times, The Neiman Marcus, The Martha Stewart, David Lebowitz's, the ones on the back of packets of choc-chip pieces, America's Test Kitchen, Alton Brown's, and the list goes on.  It seems, therefore, that every chocolate chip recipe is the perfect one.  I can't disagree, after all, everyone has their own preferences when it comes to their perfect choc-chip cookie.  I, for instance, like mine soft, chewy, not too flat nor too thick, without an overpowering sweetness, and with discernible chocolate chunks or chips in them.  I've tried many recipes from cookbooks, magazine cutouts, and some of the aforementioned places.  Soon, when I can remember to make the cookie dough 36 hours before I want to bake, I might try the NY times cookie.

On my hunt to find my perfect chocolate-chip cookie, I came across this one.  I've made them twice already and both times I have made them (for other people), I have returned with an empty box.  So I guess it is also a (very) good chocolate-chip cookie.  It fits everything that I want as I have listed above -- my only gripe with it is that it's slightly a bit too sweet for my Asian tastebuds (but nothing that can't be solved).  What's more, there's only one bowl (and a wooden spoon) to wash afterwards.  I don't know whether it can get any better than this.

A one-bowl chocolate chip cookie

Makes 25-30

Ingredients

• 120g unsalted butter, softened
  
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups good quality chocolate chunks (I would suggest nothing more than 70% cocoa)

Method

1. Melt butter in a large mixing bowl.  Beat both sugars into melted butter.  Let the mixture cool to room temp and then beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk.
2. When mixture is well blended, beat in baking soda and salt making sure that the baking soda is evenly distributed.
3. Add flour and stir just until it is mixed in. Add chocolate chips.
4. Chill dough for 1 hour or until pretty firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment.
6. Scoop up tablespoonfuls of dough and drop onto a lined baking tray or cookie sheets spacing them about 5cm apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies appear done and lightly browned around edges.  To get that chewy cookie, do not overbake!  It's hard to say how long they should be in the oven for, it depends on the oven -- in one oven, these were done in 10 minutes, in another it was 13.  My general rule of thumb is that they are 'done' when they get a bit golden brown on the outside.
7. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.