Be honest, you’re not digging this whole “eat-light-because-it’s-January ” situation. That makes two of us. Let’s stuff our face with soft baked chocolate chip cookies laced with dulce de leche. Screw the diet – It ain’t swimsuit season!
The holidays are ovah. Have you put away your Christmas decorations? I haven’t. My tree is still up. I’ll get to it. At some point.
Full Disclosure Situation: This one time my tree was up till February 12th. The thing is January is a barren wasteland of a month. Nothing happens. It’s like a sad echo situation.
Hello…
llo…
llo…
So I leave my tree up till the spirit leaves me. Some years are longer than others. There are times when December 26th rolls around and I drop the peppermint like a child with a short attention span and stop singing “Let it Snow” mid carol, needle scratching record and whatnot.
So now it’s January, my tree is still up and I’m not feeling this whole Eat Lighter ‘Cause it’s January situation. I’m not jumping on that bandwagon. Don’t expect me to. If I make a batch of energy bites I’m dousing them in caramel or dipping them in chocolate.
Or better yet, I’m baking a batch of soft baked chocolate chip cookies.
Can you believe this is my first chocolate chip cookie recipe on the blog? Crazy. Chocolate chip cookies are a classic – What the hell is wrong with me?! I have at least 5 chocolate chip cookie recipes in my repertoire. That includes the one in the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. I mean, that’s where everyone starts, right?
While scouting Pinterest I found a new chocolate chip recipe, one that uses cornstarch to produce this soft-as-hell cookie situation. I’ve heard about cornstarch in chocolate chips cookies, just never tried it. Since I’m all about new experiences I went in on that.
Since I’m very anti-diet right now I decided to lace these cookies with dulce de leche. Not a full cup, though I wouldn’t be opposed to that. Just a little bit, like a 1/4 cup of dulce de leche. Enough to let you know those caramel notes are all up in the flavor profile.
I made these cookies itty bitty. They’re larger than a quarter but not by much. I own one of those mini cookie scoops. You should look into that situation if you don’t already own one. I can’t tell if mini cookies are better for portion control or straight up dangerous. I’m not wasting too many brain cells on this. You shouldn’t either. let it go.
As always, I left these cookies on the underbaked side. I also used couverture chips, which remain soft long after the cookie has cooled. This may not help with the portion control, I understand that. But we’re not into this whole diet thing, are we?
No, we’re not. We’re stuffing our faces with soft baked chocolate chip cookies laced with dulce de leche.
The word diet just doesn’t exist here. I’m sticking to that. At least till I get a good look at my jiggly thigh situation. In the meantime, I’m goin’ in.
Join me.
[purerecipe]
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour lightly spooned then leveled (lightly spooning is key, ya'll)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/4 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ sticks 6 oz, butter, melted and somewhat cooled
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup dulce de leche
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips I used couverture chips
Instructions
- Line 2 cookies sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- To a medium bow, add flour, baking soda, and cornstarch. Sift once and add the kosher salt. Set aside.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the somewhat cooled melted butter, along with the sugar and dulce de leche. Mix on medium speed until combined and lightened, about a minute and a half. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the vanilla extract. Stop and scrape the mixer.
- Turn the mixer on to low speed and add the flour mixture all at once. Mix until the flour is mostly moistened. If there are dry bits of flour, it's fine.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl when you fold to incorporate everything. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and remove dough from the refrigerator. Using a mini cookie scoop, scoop spoonfuls of dough, roll them into bowls and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes (I prefer 7 for that underbaked goodness situation), rotating the cookie sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. The centers of these cookies will look underbaked and that's what you're looking for.
- Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool for 3-4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Recipe adapted from Host The Toast