Let me preface this entire post by saying in an official capacity as a responsible human being (and employee of a flour company): DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH. But in my unofficial capacity as a real human being with thoughts and feelings and tastebuds: raw cookie dough is an unparalleled delicacy and should be awarded seventeen Michelin stars, if that were a thing.
I wouldn’t go to town on just any cookie dough, but put a bowl of my mom’s sugar cookie dough (the cutout Christmas cookie kind) or her kitchen sink cookie dough in front of me—or my sisters—and good luck having anything left with which to bake.
Sidebar: I now call those cookies “kitchen sink” since she has a general template for the dough and varies the mix-ins by adding whatever she has on hand; there are always oats and chocolate chips and usually Grape-Nut cereal, but sometimes she’ll add raisins or shredded coconut or maybe even nuts. But “kitchen sink” is sort of a silly made-up name, the sort a food editor would write for a magazine (guilty), and we never called them anything but “cookies”. Maybe they should be called our house cookie, the way restaurants have a go-to house co*cktail.
Come to think of it, they had a similar effect on me as a child as a strong margarita does now: a soother of jangled edges, a bringer of happiness.
Plain chocolate chip cookies aren’t high on my list, perhaps because I grew up on a version so loaded with extra goodness. If pressed, I’d opt for a soft-baked chocolate chip cookie with a hefty, dough-like chew to the center and crisp, crinkly, bendy edges.
When I bake chocolate chip cookies, it’s nearly impossible for me to resist tinkering with the recipe just a wee bit: tossing in odds and ends as I rifle madly through the freezer. Cacao nibs! Half a toffee crunch bar! Ground coffee! Cornflakes! Throw them all in! Why ever not?
And yet, reader, I have found a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Drumroll please…it’s made with egg yolks! I saw the recipe on instagram, where Buttermilk by Sam (a very creative baker in DC) makes a mini half-batch version using a single egg yolk to make six jumbo cookies.
Upon researching, I found a recipe from the Violet Bakery cookbook, which is certainly not the first place to highlight this method but seems to be the most popular one.
Thus the fact that I have left these cookies entirely undesecrated by any additional ingredients should speak volumes about how good they are.
You shouldn’t tinker with them. Resist the urge! Here’s why: these aren’t ordinary chocolate chip cookies, and their uniqueness lies in the rich flavor of the egg yolks. If you add in too much extra stuff, you’ll lose that.
(Although I said don’t tinker with them, I did change the original recipe just a bit. I tweaked the sweetness level—more on that below—but I didn’t add extra add-ins. I also use less flour than the original calls for, because I prefer a less crunchy and slightly more chewy cookie.)
For this recipe, I like to use a combination of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips and chocolate discs or wafers. Why? The discs/wafers give that gorgeous pooled chocolate effect, and the chips/chopped chocolate allow chocolate to get evenly dispersed in the dough, so there’s plenty in every bite. You do you. (But…actually…do what I did.)
Recipe Notes:
Sugar: A cup of brown sugar, packed, weighs 213g but for this recipe I prefer using slightly less, so I call for a loosely packed cup—it’s best if you can weigh your sugar, and it should weigh 200g for this recipe. If you use more than that, it will absolutely not mess things up! They’ll just be a bit sweeter, and since the cookies are so rich-tasting thanks to the egg yolks, I personally like them to be not quite so sweet.
Vanilla: If you run out of vanilla, use bourbon. If you don’t have bourbon or vanilla….yikes, man.
Size: I like a jumbo cookie, so I use a large scoop (ice cream scoop size, or muffin scoop) to shape the dough balls. You can make them smaller, just watch the baking time as they won’t take as long in the oven.
Resting: Most chocolate chip cookie doughs benefit from an overnight rest in the fridge to develop flavor. You can absolutely do that, but know that these are exceptional even if you bake them right away. I like to chill my dough for about 30 minutes, just to make it easier to scoop, so do whatever works for your schedule. If you find the dough is too hard after chilling, just let it come to room temperature before scooping. You can also scoop the dough balls and freeze them, which is a nice way to always have warm cookies at the ready in under 15 minutes with no prep! Also makes a nice gift.
Salt: Use kosher in the dough, but if you have flaky sea salt, sprinkle that on top of the cookies just before baking and use your fingertips to press it in gently.
Storage: These freeze very nicely.
Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Violet Bakery and Buttermilk by Sam; makes 12-18 cookies, depending on size (I go BIG)
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200g) brown sugar, loosely packed*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
2 1/3 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups chopped chocolate, chocolate wafers, or chocolate chips (I like a mix of 70% and semisweet)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, if you’re baking the cookies right away.
Beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium-high speed in a stand mixer. Add the vanilla and egg yolks and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.
Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and mix until just combined and no streaks of flour remain but don’t overmix (often I start mixing with the stand mixer and finish folding in the flour with a rubber spatula).
Fold in the chocolate, and then scoop the dough (see note above, I do very large scoops so only 6 cookies fit per baking sheet) onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
If you don’t want to bake the cookies right away, you can either shape the dough balls and freeze them (for up to 2 months, I’d say) or you can chill the dough for up to 24 hours before baking.
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and press the salt gently into the surface of the dough.
Bake for about 15 minutes—depending on the size of the cookies, this could take more like 10 or closer to 18. Start checking around 10 and remove from the oven when the edges are starting to turn a dark golden brown. Cool slightly on a baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
