Brenda Cookies
Meet the pinnacle of all Brenda Food:
THE BRENDA COOKIE.
Taking America’s Test Kitchen and New York Time’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes and making her own version, the Brenda Cookie was born. After 2 years of perfecting the recipe, she shared it with the world.
These cookies have brought so much JOY to thousands of people from coast to coast. Like, when I heard Marie Kondo talk about items that “spark joy” I thought of these cookies.
The smell. The taste. The layers of chocolate. The gooey centers. The crunchy edges. Mama mia!
Read the full Brenda Cookie Story, or make a half-batch!
The Brenda Cookie
Cream together, mixing for approximately 5 minutes:
1 cup (9 oz) brown sugar
1 cup (8 oz) sugar
1 1/4 cup (10 oz) butter, softened
Then add, stirring until smooth:
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Sift dry ingredients together and fold into the above mixture:
3 1/2 cups (17 oz) flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp coarse salt
Just before the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, add:
1 pkg (10 oz) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chips
Do not overmix!
Portion by scooping equal sized dough balls onto a greased 13x9. Cover and refrigerate 24-72 hours.
Bake at 370F for 8-10 minutes, adding 5 minutes for extra-large cookies.
Brenda’s Tips:
Serving Size: Brenda’s 1/2 cup cookie scoop makes 18 or 19 balls of dough per batch
Brenda uses a stand mixer to make the cookies. She starts the butter and sugar creaming and then measures out all the other ingredients while waiting for the sugars and butter to whip.
Resting the dough allows the flavors to fully meld and the textures to develop. This cookie has a chewy bite with just the right combination of intense dark chocolate and caramelized butter. It will taste good immediately, but if you can be patient it will be even better.
Brenda seldom recommends a brand, but you’ll notice that Ghirardeli 60% Cacao are listed. These chips will create the flat layers of intense chocolate that indicates a true Brenda Cookie.
At high elevations, add more flour. At the farm (2600 ft), Brenda uses 17.5 oz of flour and at home (6200 ft) Brenda uses 18.5 oz
Let the cookies rest 3-6 hours before serving or packaging. A properly prepared Brenda Cookie will stay soft internally without being stored in an airtight container.
Don’t want to make a full batch? Here’s the half-batch recipe.
Window to B’s Kitchen…
Creaming butter + sugar:
Incorporating flour:
Mixing in the chocolate chips:
Scooping the dough:
