confession: i have never baked a chocolate chip cookie i truly loved.

before i begin my saga, i would like to set the record straight and say i have eaten many chocolate chip cookies that i have loved. i line up dutifully each year at the minnesota state fair to get the family sized bucket of sweet martha’s, and pop them in my mouth like they’re cookie popcorn. i can eat an entire larger-than-my-fist-sized levain bakery cookie (or two) in one sitting thank you very much.

but baking them, you’d think they’d be straightforward, but man, something goes wrong every time.

i have traumatic memories of scooping out chocolate chip cookie dough in neat little rows fully expecting them to emerge as beautifully golden discs with crisp edges and soft centers, only to take out a tray of little mishapen piles that barely spread.

the problem is always this: they always turn out just ok. mediocre. some even good, but none great. definitely not the addictive little bundles i knew flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate had the potential to be.

i thought i was cursed until i made the cookie.

when i first saw alison roman’s salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread (or why would i make another chocolate chip cookie ever again) recipe, i felt skeptical.

who was this woman with all the “the’s”: “the stew”, “the pasta”, “the cookies.” it was a bold move, i thought, to claim them all for her own. assertive. aggressive, even. how could one person take ownership of all of these staple nouns?

but a curse was a curse, and i felt a glimmer of hope since she promised they weren’t meant to spread much anyway.

as i type this now, after happily eaten #thestew, munching on #thecookies for dessert, plotting when i can acquire shallots to make #thepasta, i confess i’m a convert. she has made a pretty special cookie.

this sourdough adaptation of her viral recipe is my homage to alison roman. they’re buttery like your favorite shortbread, not too sweet, studded in chocolate, and best of all, shockingly easy to make with a flavor complexity that goes way beyond the effort you need to put in.

we all need a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe in our lives. i’ve finally found mine.

*a side note: i recently found out alison roman said some things about other female entrepreneurs this past week that i personally find problematic. like cherry bombe, i feel disappointed. i hope we can take these comments to talk, learn, and grow as a community of women supporting each other.

**updated side note: alison roman issued a very public, very vulnerable apology which i find very brave. i don’t believe in cancel culture. i want to live in a world where we can hold multiple, conflicting emotions at once: one where we can simultaneously hurt, forgive, admire — and much much more.

notes

i added buckwheat because i was feeling fancy. if you want to stick with the nothing fancy vibes, you can stick to all purpose flour.

i like to use cold starter discard, straight out of the tub i keep in my fridge. another note on my starter: i have a stiff starter at 80% hydration. please adjust the amount of flour and starter in the dough to account for your starter’s hydration.

you can store the dough in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for up to a month. i usually make one of the logs immediately, and then freeze the other log for whenever the need for emergency cookies strikes.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the dough build, and do not include the levain build.

*you can also sub with another fun flour like rye or spelt.