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Food by Number

Recipes worth remembering.

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By Carson Davis
26 min read
Food by Number

This post will receive additional recipes as time permits.

Overview

This post attempts to gather some of my most frequently made or most impressive recipes in one place. It’s still a work in progress, but the recipes listed are complete and ready to be made.

If you are looking for a more complete list, I also keep a cooking instagram where I post all my artsy fartsy cooking photos. Typically if the recipe was any good, it’ll be posted in the description. Meanwhile, this page will focus on long-form recipes with too many details.

Recipes

Kumar’s Butter Chicken

Crafted with deep expertise and a chef’s tender touch, Muthukumaran Ramasubramanian’s original recipe has single-handedly revolutionized the Indian culinary world by creating the iconic dish we now know as butter chicken.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

  • Chicken Marinade
    • 1 lb chicken, cut into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces
    • 1 tbsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
    • 1 tbsp garam masala
    • 1 tsp cumin
    • 2 tbsp corn/rice starch
    • 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
    • Salt and pepper to taste
    • Paprika for color
    • Juice of ½ lemon
    • Full-fat Greek yogurt (enough to coat the chicken)
  • Base
    • 1 cup cashews (for soaking)
    • Equal parts ghee and butter (enough to coat the bottom of a wok)
    • 6 sticks of 3-inch cinnamon
    • 14 cardamom pods
    • 14 cloves
    • 2 softball-sized onions, diced
    • 2 tbsp ground ginger-garlic paste
    • 4 baseball-sized tomatoes, diced
    • Juice from marinated chicken
    • Spices: chili powder, black pepper, turmeric, garam masala (carefully), salt
    • Heavy cream or half-and-half
  • Dessert
    • ½ pint half-and-half
    • 10 saffron threads
    • 1 cinnamon stick (fresh)
    • 8-10 cardamom pods

Chicken

  • Marinate
    1. Soak cashews in water.
    2. Cut chicken into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces.
    3. In a bowl, combine the chicken with oil, chili powder, garam masala, cumin, corn/rice starch, ginger-garlic paste, salt, pepper, paprika, lemon juice, and Greek yogurt. Ensure the chicken is well-coated. Marinate for at least 45 minutes.
  • Fry
    1. Put the chicken on a pan and fry in the oven at 350 or 400 until they develop a crunchy exterior
    2. Save the juices from the chicken for the base.

Base

  • Initial Cooking
    1. In a wok, melt equal parts ghee and butter over medium heat.
    2. Add cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and cloves. Cook until they brown slightly, ensuring the butter does not burn.
    3. Add diced onions and the juice from the marinated chicken. Cook until the onions no longer smell raw.
    4. Add ground ginger-garlic paste to the onions and cook for a few minutes.
    5. Add diced tomatoes and cook until they lose their shape.
    6. Season with chili powder, black pepper, turmeric, garam masala, and salt.
  • Secondary Cooking
    1. Grind the mixture into the smoothest paste possible, sieving if necessary for a smoother texture.
    2. Return the paste to the wok, add heavy cream or half-and-half, and cook for 10-20 minutes until the desired consistency is reached.
    3. Add the fried chicken pieces and cook for an additional few minutes to integrate.

Dessert:

  1. In a small pot, heat half-and-half with saffron threads, a fresh cinnamon stick, and cardamom pods over medium-low heat.
  2. Simmer until thickened, then serve with bread.

Roast Beef Sandwich

These days, sandwiches in restaurants cost $15+ and are mediocre at best. However, I firmly believe that if you use premium ingredients and properly prepare them, you can make a cheap sandwich at home that will rock your world.

The Fundamentals

For the basic roast beef sandwich, we rely on nothing but bread, meat, and cheese. If you use quality roast beef, properly butter and toast the bread, and use a good cheese, you will have a sandwich that is better than 90% of the sandwiches you can buy.

Brioche or ciabatta buns are a great starting place, with high-quality Japanese mayo, and muenster cheese. The roast beef is the star of the show, and you should not skimp on it. I think it costs $15/lb, and it is well worth it. It should be shaved, not sliced, and it will be so thin that it will almost melt in your mouth. Do not be tempted to warm the meat, as it will lose its delicate texture. If you do a good job toasting the buns, they will bring warmth to the sandwich.

  • Publix Brioche Buns
  • London Port Roast Beef (shaved not sliced!)
  • Kewpie Mayo
  • Muenster Cheese

Variations

  • Plane Jane
    • This has that perfect nostalgic childhood feel, but with premium ingredients and techniques it shines beautifully.
    • mayo, meat, muenster
  • Garlic Mayo
    • Whenever I want to quickly and easily elevate a savory dish, I add a touch of fresh garlic. The key is in the balance. Squeeze 1-2 cloves of garlic into the mayo before spreading on the bread. Too much, and it becomes a garlic sandwich, but when you get it right, it’s a beautiful thing.
    • mayo, meat, garlic, muenster
  • The Works
    • For those of you that love measurements, I recorded the exact amounts I used on one particular day. In reality, I make it different every time, and you should let your own tastebuds guide you, but for the tentative, this should provide an adequate starting place.
    • The microplaned cheese is very important here, shredding it not the same. If you want details on the vinegars I use, checkout the Pantry Staples post.
    • 80g beef
    • 30g mayo + 3g garlic
    • 15g arugula + 5g white vinegar + 5g dulce vinegar
    • 10g microplaned Cabot Creamery Extra Sharp Cheddar

Chocolate Mousse-Cheesecake

This is a favorite childhood recipe made for me by my mother on special occasions. It is a rich, decadent dessert that I often make specifically to impress people, as regular cakes seem pitiful and inadequate in comparison.

Recently I have been making a version that incorporates a korean honey and yuzu marmalade into the chocolate, which gives it a wonderfully tangy, dark chocolate and orange punch.

Ingredients

  • 8 oz chocolate: I get the Baker’s brand bars that are 56% cacao. It is essential that you buy baking chocolate and not regular chocolate.
  • 1 tablespoon shortening: I get the Crisco bars, but I don’t think it matters.
  • 6 oz cream cheese: It needs to be softened before you can mix it.
  • ¼ cup of butter: Softened, not melted.
  • 1/3 cup baking cocoa: I get the powdered Hershey’s Cacao, natural Unsweetened.
  • 1.5 cups of confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2.5 cups heavy whipping cream
  • Raspberries or strawberries

Kitchenware

  • Cake pan: I use one that is 9 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches deep. You should not use a pie pan, because the edges are a different angle.
  • Extra wide aluminum foil: Regular aluminum foil is not wide enough to coat the bottom. It is ok if it is also “heavy duty”.
  • 2 mixing bowls: One for the chocolate mix and one for the whipped cream.
  • 1 mixer: If you don’t already have one, KitchenAid sells a reasonable $32 one at Target. It’s a very worthwhile upgrade over the $10 Walmart ones…
  • Measuring cup: 2 cup capacity would be nice.
  • Measuring spoons: You will need at least a tablespoon and a teaspoon.
  • Icing Dispenser: I use a Ziploc bag and a plastic icing dispenser tip.

Process

  1. Soften the butter and cream cheese.
  2. Line the cake pan with aluminum foil. AL foil should be smooth enough to not snag on the chocolate.
  3. Melt the chocolate and shortening in the microwave at 50%. I use 30-second intervals until it can be mixed with a spoon.
  4. Let the chocolate sit until it is somewhat viscous, then pour the chocolate into the pan and swirl it around for the first time.
  5. Put it in the fridge for 30 seconds or until it becomes more viscous. Then repeat the swirling, with the objective of strengthening the edges.
  6. Put the chocolate shell back in the fridge. Leave for a minimum of 30 minutes.
  7. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  8. Add cocoa, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Mix it in until smooth, but don’t go too crazy, because we are going to have to mix the whipping cream in too.
  9. In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
  10. Add half the whipping cream to the other bowl, and mix with a spoon until it is all one color.
  11. Remove the chocolate shell from the fridge. I pull the aluminum foil taut downwards around the shell, and this pulls the shell from out of the pan.
  12. Pour/scoop chocolate mix into the shell. Smooth it relatively flat.
  13. Squirt whipped cream around the edges and place fruit in a circle.
  14. Refrigerate until eating.

Sombreros

This is another childhood recipe that my mom would make for parties and get togethers, or on special occasions like Christmas and Thanksgiving. They are an incredibly rich and flavorful appetizer that disappears the moment they come out of the oven.

Makes about 60

Ingredients

  • Mini fillo dough shells (Athens Brand)
  • 1 lb sausage - cooked (hot or not)
  • 1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 ½ cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
  • 4 oz chopped black olives
  • ½ cup diced red pepper
  • 1 cup ranch dressing

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Cook and drain the sausage.
  3. Combine the cooked sausage with the remaining ingredients.
  4. Fill the mini fillo shells with the mixture.
  5. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

  • Save the plastic forms and shell boxes to freeze uncooked filled shells.
  • Portion out small amounts into ziplock freezer bags to make 10 to 12 shells. Freeze and add to shells for a treat at breakfast or lunch (shells do not need to be kept frozen and can be kept in the pantry).

Mint Chicken

Joshua Weissman is not typically my go-to for recipes, but I saw him put mint and dill on a chicken sandwich and was immediately intrigued. It turns out that it tastes amazing, and this modified, low-carb version is now in my list of recipes I will make for company.

Ingredients

  • boneless chicken thigh
  • panko
  • corn bread mix
  • mint (the stuff from publix was better than the indian store)
  • dill
  • onion
  • lemon greek yogurt/sour cream/plain yogurt
  • mayo

One Day Before

Marinate the chicken in:

  • yogurt
  • mayo
  • salt
  • chili pepper

Chicken Prep

  1. cut the chicken into thin strips, like 1.5 cm thick
  2. setup 3 bowls: egg, cornbread, panko
  3. bread
  4. airfry for 12 minutes at 375, flipping in the middle

Sauce

You will mix the sauce in a bowl and roughly chop the mint and dill. The mint and dill tastes best when on top of the sauce.

  • half mayo, half lemon greek yogurt
  • raw onion, finely chopped
  • cholula garlic hot sauce
  • salt

Pumpkin Chive Sweet Potatoes

Ottolenghi is famous for his unique and flavorful vegetable recipes. I’ve made a few of them, and honestly not all of them are hits, but this one is a home run. It’s a great side dish for a dinner party, and is a wonderfully unique take on sweet potatoes.

Follow the recipe on Ottolenghis’s website. A few notes:

  • add more garlic than he calls for
  • toast the seeds in the leftover butter
  • use a LOT of sauce on the sweet potatoes

Steak Sandwich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83eQ9flwVS0

Ingredients

  • steak (ribeye, flat iron, etc. NOT flank)
  • chibatta
  • arugula
  • parsley
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 100g olive oil
  • 30g vinegar
  • 2g red pepper
  • 2g oregano

Cooking

  1. Make the chimichurri sauce
  2. Toast the bread
  3. Cook the steak and cut in thin, thin slices flat iron, ribeye, flank

Corn Bread

The cornbread of my childhood was always Jiffy, so it holds special place in my heart. However, as made on the box, it really struggles with being too dry. This recipe adds oil and sour cream which keeps the nostalgia but makes it the perfect moist texture.

Ingredients

  • 2 - 8.5 oz. boxes Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar (optional)

Instructions

  1. preheat oven to 400 F
  2. mix everything in a glass bowl
  3. let it sit for 4 minutes
  4. melt butter in a 10.5in cast iron. get it a little brown and roasted
  5. pour in the mix
  6. bake for 25 minutes

Serving Notes

  • I like to cut out pieces for serving, top them with butter, and then put them in the air fryer or under the broiler for a few minutes to get a nice crust on top.

Mayo Marinade Chicken Tacos

This can be done in various levels of complexity. The recipe here is my more complicated take on Ethan’s chicken thighs video. He does just the mayo with the spices at the beginning and adds to an excellent sandwich with feta and pickled onions. He also has two more chicken recipes that are worth checking out, including an oven sheet recipe and a sweet potato chicken recipe.

Ingredients

Initial Marinade

  • 1 lb chicken thighs
  • 3 tbs mayonnaise
  • salt

Sauce Starter

  • 2 tbs black vinegar
  • 2 tbs Korean sweet sauce
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs cane syrup

Spice Mix

  • 2 ts garlic powder
  • 2 ts red pepper
  • 2 ts onion powder
  • 2 ts oregano

Finisher

  • 4 tbs cup sour cream or yogurt
  • Tortillas

Instructions

  1. Prepare the Chicken:
    • Cut chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces.
    • In a bowl, mix the chicken pieces with mayonnaise and salt
  2. Cook the Chicken:
    • Heat a pan over medium-high heat
    • Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook until browned on one side, then flip them over
  3. Glaze the Chicken:
    • Add butter and cane syrup to the pan after flipping the chicken. Stir to coat the chicken
    • Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through, then remove from the pan and set aside on a cutting board
  4. Make the Reduction Sauce:
    • In the same pan, add black vinegar and Korean sweet sauce
    • Add onion powder, Indian pepper flakes, and oregano to the pan
    • Stir constantly to prevent burning, cooking until the sauce thickens and forms a paste.
  5. Assemble the Tacos:
    • Toast the tortillas in butter
    • Spread a thin layer of sour cream or yogurt down the middle of each tortilla
    • Cut the chicken into smaller pieces if necessary and pile them onto the tortillas
    • Drizzle the reduction sauce over the chicken, leaving some areas without sauce for flavor variation
    • You can optionally add microplaned cheese at this step
  6. Serve:
    • Serve the tacos immediately, enjoying the blend of spicy, tangy, and creamy flavors.

Detail Overload

So, the original recipe often burns a little if you want to make a reduction. I think it is the garlic/spice/oregano that is actually burning. It’s not a bad flavor if you want to make it this way, but it is very dark and intense bordering on burnt caramel.

So for an alternative, only coat the chicken in mayo and salt. You want a goodly amount of mayo, probably a couple tablespoons for 3 tacos worth of chicken.

After cooking the first side and flipping the chicken, you can add some butter and cane syrup to the pan. Not a ton, just enough to kinda coat the bottom. This will glaze the chicken nicely, and you can take it out. I often cut the chicken in the pan with tongs to confirm it’s been cooked through. As soon as the raw color disappears, take it out and pile it on the cutting board while you finish up the sauce. Don’t cook it forever and ever – it’ll cook any last little bit on the board.

Add black vinegar and korean syrup to the pan, enough to provide sauce for all the tacos. Then add a non-trivial amount of onion powder, indian pepper flakes, and oregano. I probably added half a tablespoon of each – you want their flavor to come through. Then you cook the sauce. You’re trying to brown the butter/syrup right now, so you should see constant sticky bubbles forming and you want to stir constantly, being sure to clean the bottom as you stir, so nothing sticks and burns. Do this for a couple minutes. Don’t try to taste it, unless you’ve been meaning to rid yourself of those pesky taste buds.

Add sour cream or yogurt in a thin coating down the middle of each taco, not too heavy but enough to lighten it up. Cut the chicken on the board in big swoops to make it smaller than bite-sized and pile it on the tacos. Then pour a non-overwhelming amount of sauce on each taco. Leave some areas with no sauce; it’s nice to have some flavor variation bite to bite.

White Cheddar Burger with Candied Jalapeño

Burgers are an incredibly versatile medium, and I make several involved varieties, especially with caramelized onions. This particular recipe is one of my quick and easy versions, but it should cover the fundamentals.

If you see jalapeño here and freak out, don’t worry. The candied jalapeños I recommend are not very spicy, and they add an incredible sweet and flavorful crunch to the burger.

Timing and Preparation

A soggy and cold burger is a sad burger. Do not allow yourself to get the burgers out of the pan only to realize you haven’t made the sauce or shredded the cheese. When I’m by myself making a burger as efficiently as possible, I will intermix the steps, preheating while I get the ingredients out, cooking the burger while I make the sauce, taking the buns off the griddle just in the nick of time, etc. On a good day, I can make this burger and clean the kitchen in 15 minutes.

However I’ve also been known to burn a bun when I don’t nail a timing. If this is your first time making the recipe, or you are making for company where you want to be sure everything is perfect, I being very diligent about the order of operations. A safe order looks something like this:

  1. get out all ingredients
  2. make the sauce
  3. begin making buns
  4. shred cheese, get out jalapeños, mix the arugula
  5. preheat burger pan
  6. cook the burgers

At some point I might make a dedicated post on maximizing efficiency in the kitchen, but for example, there is no need to put away the ingredients after you’ve used them, and then just sit there and watch while the burger cooks. You can shave two minutes off your prep time just by doing cleanup or prep in parallel while things cook or preheat.

Ingredients

As always, if you want to know which exact brands I use, check out the Pantry Staples post. The listed ingredients will make two burgers.

Basics

  • 1/2 lb beef. I’ve been getting the publix ‘kobe’ variety lately. It’s pretty good.
  • 2 brioche buns

Sauce

These are rough estimates. Please use your own tastebuds to make adjustments. However, do not deviate from my hot sauce recommendation. Tabasco, Louisiana, and Sriracha are NOT acceptable substitutes.

  • 3 Tbsp kewpie mayo
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp ketchup
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce.
  • 2 tsp tamari sauce
  • 2 garlic cloves

Toppings

  • arugula
  • extra sharp cabot creamery cheese; way more than you think you need
  • 8-10 candied jalapeño slices
  • balsamic vinegar, white and red
  • salt, several pinches

Preparation

Mise en Place

Get out every ingredient I listed.

Seriously. Don’t run around like a headless chicken while the burgers get cold trying to find the vinegar.

Sauce

  • Mix the mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, tamari, and pressed garlic in a small bowl
  • The measurements are approximate, so you can adjust to taste. If you like it spicier, add more Cholula. If you like it sweeter, add more ketchup. If you like it saltier, add more tamari. If you like it creamier, add more mayo.
  • The garlic cloves here are not meant to be overpowering. Since garlic clove sizes differ, you should add enough to add interest and flavor to the sauce, but not enough to make this a garlic sauce. 1 medium to small size clove per person is about right. Do not chop or mince the garlic; it needs to be pushed through a garlic press
  • The sauce should be savory with a rich, complex flavor that is slightly sweet and slightly sour. If you taste the sauce and you don’t think to yourself “wow, that’s good,” then you need to adjust it.

Arugula

  • put a big handful of arugula in a bowl
  • drizzle some white balsamic on the arugula
  • drizzle some red balsamic on the arugula
  • add pinch of salt
  • toss the arugula in vinegar
  • when you taste a piece, it should be slightly tangy and savory with full arugula flavor

Toppings

  • put 8-10 candied jalapeños in a bowl
  • microplane the cheese, 1.5 tennis balls worth of cheese for two burgers
  • you’ll probably want more cheese than you think - it gets super fluffy and voluminous after microplanning

Meat

  • cut the square pack into quarters
  • knead two 1/4 lb burgers like dough (this helps them keep their shape during smashing)
  • place them on a sheet of parchment paper (bigger than your pan) until ready to cook

Buns

  • turn on the griddle and add 4 pats of butter
  • do some other steps while the butter melts
  • add buns, soaking the butter into each one
  • remove the buns when they are golden brown, probably once you’ve finished a few more steps
  • the buns are designed to add crunch to the burger and are an important part of the textural experience. You need to cook on a low enough temperature with enough butter that they become golden brown and feel hard when you tap them with your fingernail.

Cooking

  • put a light drizzle of a high smoke point oil in a heavy 10-12 inch cast iron or carbon steel pan. NOT BUTTER, NOT OLIVE OIL
  • put the pan on med-high (8/10 on my stove) and preheat pan to 350 F
  • put burgers in pan, put parchment on top, smash until the patty is about 3/8” thick
  • remove smasher and paper and let cook Tips
  • moving the burger occasionally will not hurt it
  • it is good to lift the burger and let some of the fat pool under it
  • The end goal here is to have a delicious deep brown crust on at least one side of the burger, with some gentle pink in the middle. To keep the burger from overcooking and becoming chewy, you might have to take it out of the pan before the second side gets a crust.
  • If you flip the burger too soon and the crust doesn’t look amazing, just flip it back
  • Sometimes it’s good to lift it up so the oil can flow back under the burger. This helps keep the burger in oil at all times for better browning in the crevices that do not directly touch the pan.

Assembly

  • pour maybe 1/2 tbsp of the burger grease directly from the pan into the sauce and stir. This is heating the sauce and adding a little extra flavor.
  • spread sauce on both buns. enough for all the toppings to stick, but not so much that it’s dripping off. You aren’t trying to drown the buns in sauce; you want enough sauce that all of your condiments will stick to the bun without falling off, but you don’t want so much sauce that it’s dripping off the bun. Too little and you won’t be able to taste it; too much and it will just be a sauceburger.
  • add jalapeños to the bottom bun. They will not be overpowering; I typically add 4 or 5 to my burger, enough that half my bites have a nice chuck of jalapeño in them.
  • add the arugula to the top bun. do not skimp
  • put the burger on top of the jalapeños and put the microplaned cheese on top of the burger. I usually have to use a fork to manuever the cheese, as it melts and crushes in your fingers
  • Eat immediately.

Double-Chocolate, Browned-Butter Cookies

This is a slight modification of Claire Saffitz’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. Her recipe is super simple while still paying attention to the little details that result in an elevated cookie: browned butter, a mix of sugars, chopped chocolate, and the perfect amount of salt. I’ve got an Instagram Post about these cookies if you want to see pictures and read me rave about how amazing they are.

Makes about 18 large cookies.

Ingredients

Butter Mixture

  • Unsalted butter: 2 sticks (8 oz)
  • Heavy cream: 2 tablespoons

Sugars

  • Dark brown sugar, packed: 3/4 cup (150) g
  • White granulated sugar: 3/4 cup (150) g

Wet Ingredients

  • Large eggs: 2 (100 g), cold from the refrigerator
  • Vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon

Dry Ingredients

  • All-purpose flour: 2 cups (260 g)
  • Diamond Crystal kosher salt: 2 teaspoons (6 g)
  • Baking soda: 1 teaspoon (6 g)

Chocolate

  • Bittersweet chocolate disks, half coarsely chopped: 150 g
  • Milk chocolate disks, half coarsely chopped: 150 g

Chocolate: Chocolate is the backbone of the recipe. Use premium chocolate, and try to find disks, not chips. I’ve been using Ghirardelli Premium Baking Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and Ghirardelli Premium Baking 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips and have been very satisfied. They are easy to find at Target, Publix, etc.

Baking Soda: This raises the pH of the dough, weakening the gluten and allowing the cookies to spread and get those perfect crispy edges. It also enhances the Maillard reaction resulting in subtle nutty and caramelized flavors. You can substitute baking powder instead, but you need to use 2-3 times as much and increase the baking times. If you want to play with how fluffy/cakey/flat/thick/chewy/crispy your final cookies are, this is the ingredient to adjust.

Instructions

1. Prepare the Butter Mixture:

  1. Brown the butter and add it to a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add the 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and let cool.

Browning Butter: Don’t stress about this. Set the burner to medium-high and let the butter froth and bubble. Ignore it for a bit to measure out other ingredients until white particles separate from the oil. Stir frequently to prevent burning, and when the particles turn a rich golden brown, immediately pour the butter into your mixing bowl. Let this cool before continuing—use an ice bath or the fridge if you’re in a hurry. It doesn’t need to be rock solid, just creamy.

2. Mix the Sugars and Wet Ingredients:

  1. To the cooled butter mixture, add:
    • Dark brown sugar: 150 g
    • Granulated sugar: 150 g
  2. Whisk until smooth and thick (about 45 seconds).
  3. Add 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract; whisk until smooth and satiny.

3. Combine the Dry Ingredients:

  1. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together:
    • All-purpose flour: 260 g
    • Kosher salt: 2 teaspoons
    • Baking soda: 1 teaspoon

4. Incorporate the Dry Ingredients:

  1. Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the butter mixture.
  2. Stir with a spatula until fully combined.

Mixing: Don’t go crazy mixing this. We aren’t making bread, and we don’t want gluten formation. Just mix until the flour is incorporated. If you see a little flour, that’s fine. It will be absorbed as the dough rests.

5. Add the Chocolate:

  1. Fold in both the whole and chopped chocolate disks until evenly distributed.
  2. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes to firm up slightly.

Chop Your Chocolate: The best cookies have variety. Roughly chop half of your chocolate into dust, chunks, and whole disks. This creates more flavorful and interesting cookies.

6. Scoop and Chill the Dough:

  1. Using a ¼-cup measure, scoop dough portions onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  2. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 to 48 hours.

Rest the Dough: It doesn’t need to be a baking sheet – I shove mine into tubberware. But you must let them sit at least overnight. In my experience, the flavors continue to merge and the final texture improves for up to about 2 days.

7. Prepare the Oven and Bake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Place 6–8 dough balls on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
  3. Bake for 15–18 minutes.
  4. Let them crystalize! Rest them for about 3 minutes, and they will be warm, gooey, and perfectly crunchy. Eat them too soon and they will just be too hot and soft.

Baking: Baking is maybe the most important part of any cookie. You can have the best recipe, but if you don’t bake it right, it won’t shine. I usually take them out around 15-16 minutes. The goal is some softness in the center but a nice crunch on the outside. The tops should have a nice golden brown color. If the cookie isn’t the perfect mix of gooey and crunchy, then you need to adjust your baking times.

Salting: Depending on my mood, I will often lightly salt the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven and before they cool. You don’t use table salt for this, you use big, soft, flakey crystals like Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.

8. Serving:

  1. At the 13-minute mark, scoop a small amount of ice cream into a bowl.
  2. Place the bowl and spoon in the freezer while the cookies finish baking.
  3. Once the cookies slightly cool and crystallize, serve them on the ice cream.
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