Alton Brown’s “The Puffy”

As you all know, I love Alton Brown. I’ve made a few of his recipes recently including his overnight cinnamon rolls and his famous chewy chocolate chip cookie. He did a great episode of Good Eats where he created three very different versions of chocolate chip cookie by making slight variations of the Nestle Tollhouse recipe.

To say I really enjoyed “The Chewy” is an understatement. It is delicious. I can’t rave about it enough. I decided to try out another recipe from the episode “The Puffy”.

I didn’t have any butter flavored shortening, so I ended up using 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. These cookies were very puffy when they came out of the oven, but they deflated quite a bit as they cooled. The cake flour gives these cookies a great texture and this is another great chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I much prefer The Chewy. I just like chewy cookies.

The Puffy – from Alton Brown – I got 4 dozen cookies using my cookie scoop1 cup butter-flavored shortening – I used 1/2 cup shortening + 1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the shortening (and butter), sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. Sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

Add the eggs 1 at a time to the creamed mixture. Add vanilla. Increase the speed until thoroughly incorporated.

With the mixer set to low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough (I chilled the dough overnight). Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet (I used a my regular sized cookie scoop to get smaller cookies). Bake for 13 minutes (mine baked for about 9 minutes) or until golden brown and puffy, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool and store in an airtight-container.

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18 Responses to “Browned Butter Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies”

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    FunandFearlessinBeantown — March 30, 2012 at 7:53 am

    I have my tried and true ATK version but I always love discovering new chocolate chip cookie recipes!

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    Elizabeth — March 30, 2012 at 8:27 am

    Brown butter makes everything better!

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    In and Around Town — March 30, 2012 at 8:31 am

    I am pretty boring with chocolate chip cookies and stick with the recipe on the back of the bag, but the size of these and the twist on ingredients makes me want to give these a go!

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    Mrs. Williams — March 30, 2012 at 8:35 am

    I use half the bag of chips too – I like them that way! 🙂 I might have to give this one a shot – I really liked the brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip I made last week.

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    Judy — March 30, 2012 at 9:40 am

    I love trying new ccc recipes also.  You don’t mention what the texture of the cookie is.  I like crispy edges and chewy centers, very hard to find.

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    Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray — March 30, 2012 at 9:44 am

    Well, I know what’s happening with the half block of cream cheese in my fridge just waiting to be used up! Cookies are in my future, score. 😉

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    Colleen — March 30, 2012 at 10:52 am

    I love adding sea salt to chocolate things! I haven’t tried it on chocolate chip cookies, but it sounds delicious.

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    Carrie's Sweet Life — March 30, 2012 at 8:29 pm

    These look awesome, I am still searching for the perfect recipe!

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    PB and Peppers — March 31, 2012 at 7:05 am

    The cookies sound amazing!  I love the addition of cream cheese!  CC is my favorite cookie and I am terrified to make them because I have no self control.  I love the dough and I love the cookie!!  

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    Megan — April 1, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    These sound like they take the best components of all my favorite cookies (browned butter, a sprinkling of sea salt) and merge them together.

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    nicole @ I am a Honey Bee — April 3, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    I always stick with Tollhouse cookies. I need to open my eyes to the wide world of chocolate chip cookies varieties out there!

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    Courtney — April 15, 2012 at 11:14 am

    I made these today and they were fantastic–thanks for sharing the recipe! (*^_^*)

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    mega — May 16, 2012 at 9:16 am

    aahh this is recipe that i looking for to make choco chip cookies… thank you for post it 🙂

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    Kaila — January 4, 2013 at 11:24 pm

    Made these but didn’t know you have to refrigerate the dough prior to baking hope they come out okay!

    • beantownbaker — January 5th, 2013 @ 4:31 pm

      They should still turn out ok. They might spread a bit more than mine do. Let me know how they come out!

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    Arghavan — February 16, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    Made these with the kiddies today and WOW! They are delicious! It made a lot of dough though (I made smaller cookies than the recipe called for), can I freeze the dough in small balls?

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    Jess — February 19, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    Making these today! Can’t wait to see how it turns out. I have another great brown butter choc chip recipe but never tried with cream cheese. Thought I would share my tip for the sea salt…I love a salted cookie! I wait until the cookies have cooled 5 minutes before sprinkling, it’s not too hot that the salt sinks into the batter but not too cold that the salt just bounces off.

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    Clara Gonzalez — November 22, 2021 at 12:01 pm

    These look amazing! I am definitely going to make them!

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