sally's perfect chewy cookies

Posted 20 February 2023

My ideal cookie is the perfect balance of lightly crunchy edges and chewy-gooey center, with a generous dollop of flavor.

People talk about how they knew from the first moment that they'd found their soulmate, their one true love. I would like to introduce the concept of a stomachmate. This is mine. It's so simple, so fast to bake up, and the results are amazinggg.

If you need convincing to stop what you're doing right now and make these, I can think of no better advertisement than Sally's own glamour shots:

cookie

lightly adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

one recipe makes two trays

ingredients

• 185g flour
• 2/3 tsp baking soda
• dash salt
• 1 egg
• 112g butter, softened but not melted
• 165g brown sugar¹
• dash vanilla

steps

• cream together butter and sugar, add vanilla and egg, then stir in the dry ingredients.
• add any mixins.
• drop by spoonful onto a lined baking sheet.
• bake at 180c for up to 12 minutes (11 in my oven) and let cool.
• once cool, they can be stored in tupperware for up to a week, if they aren't eaten sooner ;)

suggested mixins

mel's toffee

lightly adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

• gently heat equal parts butter and granulated sugar, plus a pinch of salt, on the stovetop until bubbling. for this application i would suggest a half recipe, 125g.
• simmer, stirring occasionally, until browned ²
• pour the candy onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper; it should spread by itself into a thin layer.
• let cool, then crack into small chips by hitting it with a rolling pin, and add to the cookie dough before baking.

classic chocolate chip

• to keep sally's ratio, use 120g chocolate chips. or do what i did and go by vibes.
• don't have chocolate chips? why not use a fun flavored chocolate bar chopped into chunks? (we enjoyed a pandan coconut bar)

notes

1. Sally recommends using a mixture of white sugar (less moisture content, will make the cookie crispier) and brown sugar (more moisture content, will make the cookie chewier). Personally, I prefer the taste and convenience of using all brown sugar. You can also sub some crystalized gula melaka if you feel like that might be relevant to your interests; it melts and caramelizes in a really appealing way where it touches the cookie sheet.
2. Mel describes the final color as dark brown, but as you can see from her photos, it should be more of a caramel, like the end stage of a browned roux.