Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat room temperature butter in stand mixer/by hand for 3-5 minutes (or until butter turns off-white). If you made brown butter, skip this step. (Make sure brown butter is cooled)

Add in brown sugar. Beat the sugar with the butter until the mixture is fluffy (about 2 minutes). If you used brown butter, it should whip up and become fluffy as well (if it doesn’t, make sure your butter is cooled).

Add your large egg and egg yolk and stir into mixture

Mix in vanilla and molasses (optional).

Add flour, baking soda, and salt to form your dough. If using a stand mixer, mix on low. If mixing by hand, use a spatula.

Add chocolate and mix well to distribute it evenly into your dough.

Chill dough for 30 minutes (or even up to 48 hours), to let the ingredients settle together and create the best tasting cookie! You can even freeze the dough, up to 2 months, to have pre-made dough for whenever you want a cookie!

Use a 1/3 cup scoop (or however much your heart desires) and place a single ball of dough on baking tray. THIS IS YOUR TEST COOKIE! Always start with baking a single cookie, to make sure you didn’t forget an ingredient and/or your oven isn’t too hot (some ovens have hot-spots or cook things quicker/slower than others). This is also a good indicator of how much your cookie will spread.

After baking your test cookie, place cookie dough balls on your tray. Use your test cookie to estimate how many cookies you can fit on your tray.

Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes (for 1/3 cup scoop), or until edges are slightly golden. You want to partially under-bake the dough, to get the crispy outside and gooey inside.

For perfectly circular cookies, use a circular bowl/cup and swirl around your fresh cookie to make edges clean. Then let cookies sit on tray for about 10 minutes before removing.

For finishing touches, add flaky sea salt and you’re done!

Store in fridge up to 10 days or in room temperature for up to 8!