Chocolate Chip Cookie Brittle

This recipe has made the rounds, and never fails to impress. It’s all the satisfaction of crisp, sugary, brown-buttery chocolate chip cookies for very little time and effort. Perfect for weekday baking, gifting, compulsive snacking, and making friends and influencing people.

Try a variety of chip and nut combinations in the mix—I love bittersweet chocolate chips and pecans, but consider cashews and butterscotch chips, shredded coconut, salted peanuts, and more—this workhorse of a recipe can take it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup/225 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup/200 g granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 2 cups/256 g all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

• 1 cup/170 g chopped pecans, lightly toasted

• 1 cup/170 g bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cacao)

Midwest Made by Shauna Sever

Directions

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 350°F/180°C. Have ready a 12 x 17-inch/30 x 43 cm rimmed baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and vanilla. Add the sugar and salt and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and appears pastelike. Switch to a wooden spoon or spatula and mix in the flour. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips. Press the mixture into the ungreased pan in a thin, even layer (use the chocolate chips as your guide—try to get them in as close to a single layer as possible throughout the dough, and you’ll have the right thickness).

Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until light golden brown (the edges will be a bit darker than the center), rotating the pan 180 degrees every 7 to 8 minutes during baking. Let cool completely before breaking into charmingly irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.