Equipment
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 250 g all-purpose flour, sifted
- 4 g baking soda
- 3 g fine sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 170 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 150 g dark brown sugar, packed
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 10 ml vanilla extract
Mix-ins and Topping
- 175 g semisweet chocolate chips
- 130 g roasted salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
- 2 g flaky sea salt
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 202 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- 24 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 15 g
- Sodium
- 155 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 5 g
- Potassium
- 79 mg
- Calcium
- 20 mg
- Iron
- 0.9 mg
- Magnesium
- 21 mg
- Phosphorus
- 49 mg
- Zinc
- 0.4 mg
- Vitamin A
- 55 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 0 mg
- Water
- 5 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Place the roasted salted peanuts on a cutting board and coarsely chop them with a chef's knife into varied coarse chunks.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the sifted all-purpose flour, baking soda, and fine sea salt until thoroughly blended.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted unsalted butter, packed dark brown sugar, and granulated sugar, whisking vigorously for 1 minute until smooth and unified.
Add the whole egg, extra egg yolk, and vanilla extract into the butter-sugar mixture, whisking briskly for 2 minutes until glossy, thickened, and slightly paler in color.
Add the whisked dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and fold gently using a rubber spatula just until flour streaks are almost gone.
Add the semisweet chocolate chips and chopped roasted salted peanuts to the dough, folding gently with the rubber spatula until evenly distributed.
Cover the large mixing bowl tightly with plastic wrap and transfer it to the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F) and line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a cookie scoop, portion the chilled dough into 35-gram balls and arrange them on the parchment-lined baking sheet at least 5 cm (2 inches) apart.
Sprinkle each dough ball evenly with a small pinch of flaky sea salt across the top surface.
Bake in the middle rack of the oven at 175°C (350°F) for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are golden brown and set, the top is crinkled, and the center reaches at least 71°C (160°F).
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest undisturbed on the hot pan for 5 minutes to set their soft centers.
Slide a flat spatula beneath the cookies and transfer them onto a wire cooling rack to cool for 9 minutes before serving.
Chef's Notes
- Using melted butter instead of creaming solid butter keeps the crumb dense, fudgy, and chewy rather than light and cake-like.
- The inclusion of an extra egg yolk provides natural lecithin and additional fat, producing an exceptionally tender and elastic dough structure.
- Roasted and salted peanuts yield maximum savory balance; if using unsalted peanuts, add an extra 1 gram of fine sea salt to the dry mixture.
- For bakery-style visual appeal, press two or three extra chocolate chips and peanut shards into the top of each portioned dough ball right before baking.
Storage
Refrigerator: 1 week — Keep cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or refrigerate for up to 7 days.
Freezer: 3 months — Freeze baked cookies or portioned raw dough balls in an airtight freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Reheating: Warm baked cookies in an oven preheated to 150°C (300°F) for 3 to 5 minutes to restore melted chocolate and tender crumb.
Troubleshooting
Cookies spread excessively flat and become greasy
Cause: The melted butter was added while still too hot, or the dough was not chilled adequately before baking
Fix: Cannot be fixed for already baked cookies; place remaining portioned dough balls into the freezer for 10 minutes prior to baking
Prevention: Cool melted butter until just barely lukewarm before mixing, and ensure the dough rests in the refrigerator for the full 20 minutes
Cookies turn out cakey or dry rather than chewy
Cause: Excess flour was incorporated, or cookies were baked past the ideal doneness threshold
Fix: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container with a fresh slice of sandwich bread for several hours to restore moisture
Prevention: Measure the flour using a digital gram scale and pull cookies out while the center still appears soft and pale
Cultural Context
The chocolate chip cookie originated in the late 1930s when American culinary pioneer Ruth Graves Wakefield introduced chopped semisweet chocolate to butter drop cookies at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. Pairing chocolate with roasted peanuts has long been a staple of American confectionery traditions, famously epitomized in classic twentieth-century candy bars and carnival snacks. This recipe marries that iconic salty-sweet peanut synergy with a chewy, modern drop cookie technique.
