Allison Kave and Keavy Landreth, the cofounders of Butter & Scotch, Brooklyn’s favorite bar and bakery have joined the Bake from Scratch team to share their debaucherous, slightly twisted approach to indulgence with this new regular column, which will highlight a different dessert and cocktail pairing with each new issue.
For these chocolate chip cookies, The Drunk Bakers behind Butter & Scotch opt for perfectly gooey insides with crispy, chewy edges. The final, and perhaps most essential, ingredient that makes these cookies so damned stellar is time. Patience is not the virtue of most cookie cravers, but it’s vital that this dough has its beauty sleep in the fridge before baking (rest assured, this doesn’t prevent you from sneaking a taste or three of the dough before you bake it). Reward your willpower by gilding the lily; bake these cookies, then dunk them in the adult version of milk: a White Russian.These recipes also appear in their cookbook Butter & Scotch: Recipes from Brooklyn’s Favorite Bar and Bakery (Abrams Books, 2016).
- 1½ cups (340 grams) unsalted butter
- ½ cup (120 grams) plus ⅓ cup (80 grams) cold water, divided
- 1⅔ cups (333 grams) granulated sugar
- 1⅔ cups (367 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 8 large egg yolks (149 grams)
- ⅓ cup (75 grams) canola oil
- 2 tablespoons (26 grams) vanilla extract
- 6 cups (750 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2¾ teaspoons (13.75 grams) baking soda
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (12 grams) kosher salt
- 12 ounces (340 grams) bittersweet chocolate morsels
- Garnish: fleur de sel
- In a small saucepan, bring butter to a boil over medium-high heat. You’re turning this into browned butter, or beurre noisette: when the butter starts to foam, and you will smell a nutty aroma, immediately remove it from the heat. (Be careful, as browned butter can quickly turn to burnt butter if you let it go too far.) Let cool slightly. Whisk in ½ cup (120 grams) water.
- In a large bowl, whisk together both sugars; whisk in browned
- butter mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, oil, vanilla, and remaining ⅓ cup (80 grams) water until combined. Whisk egg mixture into butter-and-sugar mixture until combined.
- In a separate medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and kosher salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients in 2 additions until fully incorporated. Fold in chocolate morsels.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight (this allows the dough to fully hydrate, and prevents the cookies from spreading too much during baking).
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- With a ½-cup ice cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared pans. (If you want to have some cookies for another time, or don’t want to bake a full batch, cover the extra scooped dough with plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 1 month.)
- Gently press down on each cookie with the palm of your hand to flatten it a bit. Sprinkle a pinch of fleur de sel on each cookie, if desired.
- Bake, rotating pans once halfway through, until cookies are golden around the edges and light in the center, about 10 minutes. Let cool before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
