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Ingredients

• 227g butter
• 340g AP flour
• 1/4-1/2 tsp finely ground sea salt
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 227g light brown sugar
• 57g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1.5 Tbsp milk (30mL)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (OR 1 vanilla bean)
• 340g chopped up dark chocolate
• Recipe: put the butter in a saucepan to brown over very low heat
• (optional) if you’re using a vanilla bean, cut it open and scrape the seeds into a bowl and put the pod into the saucepan with the butter
• cook the butter, stirring constantly until it starts to spit (that’s the water boiling out) and turn the flame down until it’s just hot enough that it’s still hissing/spitting. keep going until it’s foamy and you can see little golden brown bits in it (that’s the milk solids browning)
• put the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and let it cool but not resolidify
• add the sugars to the bowl and mix until it comes together in a sort of thick, wet sand mixture. it won’t cream like if the butter was solid but it will hold its shape
• whisk the egg, yolk, milk and vanilla extract/seeds together then add to the stand mixer and mix until you’ve got a smooth, even mixture
• sift the flour, soda and salt together
• add the flour mix in 3 batches, mixing gently until combined and there are no streaks for all 3 batches
• fold the chopped up chocolate in by hand
• wrap the dough in cling wrap and let rest in the fridge overnight (minimum 12-ish hours, up to 2 days)
• separate into 24 even balls (the way I usually do this is cut the dough into half, quarters, eighths and then each eighth into 3. each ball should weigh ~52g)
• bake in batches of 6 in a 170C oven for 14 minutes (rotating halfway through). you’ll know they’re done if the outsides have gone a golden brown colour and are firm to the touch (the tops will still be soft)
• let cool to room temp/warm to the touch