Martha-Stewart-Fired-Me Cookies (excerpt from The Order of Things)

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I can’t tell you the whole story of getting fired, because, well, we all love Martha, don’t we? We do. You just need to know that after she fired me and before I landed the next big job, I did certain things. I drank a whole bunch of martinis at the Red Cat around the corner from my apartment on West 23rd Street in Chelsea. I did a whole bunch of Barre Method classes because if I was going to be unemployed, I was going to look good. And I made a whole bunch of chocolate chip cookies in my quest to perfect them. Thirty-eight different batches, in fact. A tweak here, a tweak there. And then, the sea salt.

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks (226 g) salted butter, softened

  • 1⁄2 (100 g) cup sugar

  • 1 cup packed (238 g) dark brown sugar

  • 1⁄2 cup packed (109 g) light brown sugar

  • 2 large eggs, room temperature

  • 2 tsp. (10 mL) vanilla extract

  • 2 3⁄4 cups (330 g) all-purpose flour

  • 1⁄4 tsp. (3.5 g) smallish-to-medium-grain sea salt for batter, more for topping (I prefer Maldon)

  • 1 tsp. (5 mL) baking soda

  • 1 1⁄2 tsp. (7.2 g) baking powder

  • 2 1⁄4 cups (510 g) semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (chunks are better, chopped up a bit for texture, but you should use one-and-a-half 12-oz. bags—definitely more than typically called for, that’s the key)

Instructions

  • Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until the mixture is nice and fluffy (approximately 3 minutes on medium-high speed—this seems like forever, so watch the clock and keep at it).

  • Add both eggs and the vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes (again, this feels like a long time, watch the clock).

  • Add baking soda, baking powder, a bit of salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally, add chocolate pieces and mix until well distributed.

  • Chill dough for 24–48 hours if you want them to be the best cookies ever. If you cannot chill the dough, they will still be amazing, I promise!

  • When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 360°F (182°C).

  • The cookie batter will be somewhat thick and quite sticky, so use your hands to plop balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I prefer dough balls slightly larger than a quarter (8 per sheet), but make whatever size you like; just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly.

  • Sprinkle some sea salt over them before they go in the oven.

  • Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges are golden brown but the center is still light and puffy.

  • Remove from heat, slam down a few times to flatten out a bit (helps keep them chewy in the middle and slamming the pan is fun!), do another sprinkle of sea salt, and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes.

  • Transfer cookies to a room-temperature, nonporous surface to cool for at least 3–5 minutes before serving.