COMFORTS: Love, in the form of a Chocolate Chip Cookie

What's your secret ingredient? Here's mine.

There are a few things in life that feel like love, no matter the circumstance: the way someone reaches for your hand absentmindedly, the first sip of coffee on a slow, snowy morning, and the smell of brown butter mingling with vanilla and dark chocolate, curling into the corners of your home. These cookies? They are love incarnate.

I have made a lot of cookies in my time—crispy, chewy, cakey, thin, thick, you name it—but this recipe? This is the one everyone always comes back for. It’s the kind of cookie that says, I made this with you in mind. The kind that makes someone linger a little longer in your kitchen, stealing pieces of dough when they think you’re not looking. It is a cookie worth writing home about (or writing a substack about).

The secret? Brown butter, kissed with fresh bay leaves and cloves, adding a subtle, almost elusive warmth. It’s not simply just a holiday-cookie, but it hums with something deeper, something that lingers on your tongue just a little longer than expected. It’s the difference between a song you enjoy and one that stays with you long after the last note.

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The Recipe

Makes about 22 cookies, depending on how much dough you eat first.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups (180g) unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1 ¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt (trust me)

• ¾ tsp. baking soda

• 1 ½ sticks (¾ cup; 170g) butter (salted or unsalted, your call)

• 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar

• ⅓ cup (67g) turbinado sugar (this is important!!!)

• 1 large egg

• 2 large egg yolks

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 4 fresh bay leaves (or 1 sprig of fresh oregano—yum)

• 4 whole clove bulbs

• 12 oz (340g) dark chocolate chips

• A handful of Maldon salt to finish

Steps to Falling in Love (With a Cookie):

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

2. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Set it aside like a substack post waiting to be read.

3. Make the brown butter. In a saucepan, add bay leaves and cloves, then melt ½ cup (1 stick; 113g) butter over medium heat. Swirl, scrape, and watch as it foams, then deepens into a rich, golden brown, about 4 minutes. Pour everything—aromatics included—into a mixing bowl and let it cool for a minute. Remove bay leaves and cloves, then stir in the remaining ¼ cup (56g) butter in small pieces until melted.

4. Cream together the warm butter with both sugars until combined. The turbinado sugar should feel like wet sand, textured but smooth, no lumps in sight.

5. Whisk the egg, yolks, and vanilla together, then pour into the sugar-butter mix. Stir until glossy and gorgeous.

6. Fold in the flour mixture on a low speed (or by hand), scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula until no flour remains. Then, gently stir in the chocolate chips by hand—this is not a moment for haste.

7. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 10 minutes maximum. It should be soft and sticky but hold its shape. Enough time to put on a good song, pour yourself a drink, and anticipate the magic ahead. In the summertime or in a super hot kitchen, you’ll need the full 10 minutes, but in a cool kitchen, you may not even need to refrigerate!

8. Scoop imperfect balls of dough onto your prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.

9. Bake for 9 minutes on the lower rack. Only one sheet at a time—patience is key.

10. It’s the bang-bang step! Remove the sheet from the oven and bang it against the counter. This deflates the cookies, creating those irresistible ripples. Sprinkle with Maldon salt and return to the oven for another 2–5 minutes, watching carefully for that golden-brown hue. Each oven will require a different time, but once you know what your oven requires, you can use that amount for each batch.

11. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack. If you can wait that long.

12. Enjoy! Preferably while still warm, when the chocolate is molten and the edges are crisp and golden. Store in an airtight container if they last more than a day. (They won’t.)

This is a cookie to make for someone you love—your partner, your best friend, your future self. It also makes a great gift on a first date! The kind you tuck into a tin and adorn with a hand-written note. The kind they’ll eat standing at the counter, barefoot, with a glass of something cold, reminiscing about how fantastic your date was. However you enjoy them, know that you are, in this moment, deeply cared for. Because this? This is love, in the form of a cookie.

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*Gluten free? You can use King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten Free Flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour at the same weight.

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