Barely-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

The lovely thing about cookie dough is everyone wants to lick the bowl. It’s sweet. Salty. Decadent. I went on a quest to find a cookie twenty years ago that maintains that doughy goodness of cookie dough, and thanks to Lisa, this is the result. The key is to take them out of the oven the second the edges turn brown. It’s won every informal competition among friends, and they call these “Ruth’s Barely-Baked.”

4 sticks butter

2 tablespoons vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 1⁄2 cups brown sugar

1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt

1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda

5 cups flour

1 bag of good chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)

Step 1: Soften the butter until partially melted. Stir in brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, and eggs.

Step 2: Combine salt, baking soda, and flour in a bowl.

Step 3: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand. Do not over mix! Stir in chocolate chips.

Step 4: Using an ice cream scoop, spoon generous balls of cookie dough onto a greased and lined baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or overnight).

Step 5: When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F on the convection setting.

Step 6: Put the cold cookie dough tray into the oven and bake until the edges are brown but centers are still gooey (about 10 minutes). They will look “barely-baked.” 

RUTH’S PRO-TIP:

I often double or triple this recipe and freeze the raw dough in pre-scooped balls so we can have warm cookies whenever the mood strikes.