Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Mondays can be nice quiet days for me as far as baking goes. It's the beginning of the work week and it's a day I usually like to experiment with different recipes since I can take my time playing around with different recipes.
I'm always looking for other chocolate chip cookie recipes to try, so I decided to take out a cookbook from the library yesterday because this cookie recipe sounded so good!
It's from the book, " The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgieri. There are lots of recipes in the book I'd love to try..if only I had more time! But these cookies are definitely worth making. His technique is a little different, too.
The butterscotch name, and flavor, comes from the use of only brown sugar in the recipe. There's no white sugar used, so the caramel flavor really comes through among tons of chocolate chunks, that is!
And if you like a chocolate chip packed cookie, this one's for you! There are so many chips and chocolate chunks in the cookie that it's truly a chocolate lover's cookie. The original recipe calls for using bittersweet chocolate chunks and milk chocolate chunks but I only had bittersweet chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate that I chopped into chunks.
Still, a fabulous cookie. I loved the crunch on the outer edges and the soft gooeyness in the center. Perfect for me..and Kris managed to inhale quite a few!
A word about the baking...I decided to try baking a few first, just to see how accurate the baking time in the book was compared to what my crazy oven did! Well, I'm glad I did because based on the size of the cookie, I only needed to bake mine for 11 minutes, rather than the stated 15 minutes! My oven was running a little hot, I do admit, so perhaps if your oven is very accurate the 15 minutes would be fine. I would keep an eye on them after 11 minutes though, just in case they're browning too much.
But even though my first batch looked like they were in too long, they actually came out the best, for me. They kept the nice outer crunch thing I love, whereas the next batch I found didn't brown as much and came out a bit too soft for my liking.

I know this is getting long winded so I'll wrap things up! But one last note. I have some more of the batch in the fridge waiting for tomorrow. I know with alot of chocolate chip cookies, it's best to let them stay overnight in the fridge so I thought I'd test out a few. I'll let you know if they are any different tomorrow.
**Update on the overnight stay in the fridge: The cookie came out exactly the same as when baked yesterday so it doesn't seem to make a difference in this cookie recipe. So go ahead..make 'em, bake 'em ..and enjoy the chocolatey goodness!**


First stir your dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Then place the butter, brown sugar and vanilla into a mixer bowl and beat with the paddle attachment on medium but only til just mixed.

Note* Don't overbeat this mixture since he says overbeating will make this type of cookie rise and then flatten out during baking.*

Then, once the dough is combined, stir in the flour by hand, using a large rubber spatula.

Then stir in the chopped chocolate chunks.

The dough will be soft ( at least in my hot kitchen in the middle of summer the dough is soft). If you're making these in the winter time, perhaps the dough will not be as soft!

Scoop teaspoonfuls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing about 3" apart.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies (from," The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgieri)

Makes about 4 dozen, depending on size

1 1/3 cups AP flour, spooned into cup and leveled off

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

10 tbsp. (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

6 oz. bittersweet ( not unsweetened) chocolate, cut into 1/4 " pieces

6 oz. milk chocolate, cut into 1/4" pieces ( I used semisweet chocolate)

Set racks ( if doing 2 batches at once),to upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat to 350.

1. Stir flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.

2. Combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat, with paddle attachment, on medium speed til just mixed, then beat in the egg.( Don't overbeat. *See note above).

3. Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture by hand, then stir in the chocolate.

4. Drop teaspoons of the dough, spacing 2"-3" apart.

5. Bake til they are spread, well risen and golden, about 15 minutes ( mine took less, see my notes above).