Words by Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore. Photo by Michael Gardeni
Italians are known for eating very sweet breakfasts, usually comprising coffee with a pastry or cookies. Alongside the more traditional Italian sweets, this tried-and-true recipe for North American chocolate chip cookies found its place on our breakfast buffet and never left. The reason could be because I am Canadian and Lara is American but most likely it is because Lara and Massimo’s son, Charlie, loves these cookies and we just can’t let him down. Enjoy!
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Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick 115 g salted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup packed plus 1 tablespoon, 110 g muscovado sugar
- ½ cup 100 g granulated sugar
- ½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 ⅔ cups 200 g all-purpose (plain) flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher, flaky salt
- ⅔ cup 150 g dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream the butter and both sugars. Mix in the vanilla seeds and egg.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter until well incorporated. By hand, fold in the chocolate chips. Let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/Gas Mark 4). Line two baking sheets with parchment (baking) paper. Portion the dough into 30 balls of about 1 ounce (25 g) each and arrange on the lined baking sheets, about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. (Alternatively, the raw dough balls can be stored in an airtight container and frozen for up to 1 month.) Bake until the edges become slightly toasted—the cookies will flatten out, but the centers still seem slightly raw—about 8 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and let cool on a wire rack.
- These cookies are best eaten as soon as possible but can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Excerpted from SLOW FOOD FAST CARS© 2023 by MASSIMO BOTTURA and LARA GILMORE. Photography by Michael Gardenia (Fusillo Lab). Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.