Chocolate Chip Icebox Cookies
These are homemade slice-and-bake chocolate chip cookies, folks. It doesn’t get any better than this: 5 giant logs of butter, sugar, and chocolate (otherwise known as cookie dough). Not to mention, these are the best cookies I have ever had for dunking in milk. It is the most inexplicably, blissfully perfect cookie and milk combination… but I will explain more about that later. First I have to get back to the dough.
This recipe makes about 5 foot-long logs of cookie dough. Rolled out of the giant bowl of cookie dough you see below. So much cookie dough, in fact, that it almost consumed my handheld electric mixer when I was adding all the dry ingredients in. (Note: next time I make a massive recipe, I should really stop being lazy and lug out the standing mixer)
But that crazy amount of cookie dough is a very, very good thing. It means you aren’t gonna run out of cookies anytime soon.
What will you do with all this chocolate-packed dough, you ask? I’m guessing some of you are planning on eating every single cookie. If so, I’m proud of you, and I hope you enjoy every bite.
But for the rest of you, the great thing about icebox cookies is that they keep for a long time and bake off super quickly. Surprise guests? Slice up some cookie dough. Awful day at work or school? 9 minutes of oven time and you’ve got fresh baked cookies. There is no reason not to make a big batch of these icebox cookies right now.
My recipe is (once again) from my favorite 1960s cookbook, Best Recipes from Southern Kitchens: Desserts. It is a recipe for plain icebox cookies (like sugar cookies), but with a little extra salt, sugar, and a lot of chocolate chips, they are classic chocolate-chip cookie happiness.
A Few Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Secrets:
- The most important thing about any good chocolate chip cookie is the salt. You’ve got to add more than you think to complement the chocolate and give you that perfect, not-too-sweet bite.
- The other important thing with cookies is degrees of baking. (Unintentional bad pun) The old recipe has these cookies baking at 400 degrees. Now that is HOT for a cookie, and definitely would not fly with my overzealous oven. I reduced the heat to 375 and even then still reduced the time to 9 minutes. You almost always want to under-bake cookies. Never go past a color that you can’t call golden-brown, and don’t burn the bottom! A little gooey in the middle when you first take them out of the oven is a good thing. Don’t worry- they will set up when they cool.
Usually, I follow my own advice and under-bake. But for the batch you see in the photos, I went a little darker golden-brown (10 minutes)… and let me tell you, I don’t regret it one bit because of this:
These slightly-crunchier-than-usual cookies were like a sponge for milk. They soaked it up and were nice and soft without disolving in the milk at all. You know that disappointing feeling when you dunk your Oreo for too long and have to watch your cookie slowly fall apart into your glass of milk? That never happens with these cookies. It’s chocolate chip cookie and milk magic. (Three whole cookies were eaten in the photographing process.)
Chocolate Chip Icebox Cookies
Makes about 6 dozen
Ingredients: 4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 1/4 tsp of salt (can adjust to taste), 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 cup packed light-brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, 3 eggs (beaten), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup of butter (softened, 3 cups of chocolate chips
1. Whisk together dry ingredients (including sugars) in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Beat the eggs together with the vanilla by hand in a small bowl.
3. Add egg mixture to softened butter in a large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer) and beat until well combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture in increments, beating a little each time to incorporate. The dough should be very thick.
5. Fold in chocolate chips (I used 2 cups milk chocolate, and 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate) with a spatula.
6. Lay out a large sheet of plastic wrap on your clean counter. Wash your hands and rub a little flour on them(to keep things from getting too sticky) and grab about 1/5 of the cookie dough (about 2 big handfuls). Form it into a rounded log (you can shape it, roll it, whatever works for you) about a 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the log on the plastic wrap and roll it up. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
7. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or a few days.
8. When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a cookie sheet with Baker’s Joy or line it with a Silpat baking mat.
9. Remove dough from fridge and unwrap it. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into slices about 1 cm in thickness. You can use your fingers to form better circle shapes if your log is a bit smushed on the bottom.
10. Place cookie dough rounds on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8–10 minutes (8 being soft and gooey, 10 being best for milk-dipping).
11.Let cookies cool slightly and then enjoy them with a cold glass of milk!
Enjoy the best slice-and-bake cookies ever!
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