The cookie recipe invented after being fired by Martha Stewart: Chef Gormley's perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe

One video that’s been going viral for all the right reasons lately is this chocolate cookie recipe by Sarah Gormley, a chef who used to work under the one and only Martha Stewart. The reel kicks off with Gormley saying, “These are called the Martha Stewart Fired Me Cookies because I perfected the recipe after Martha Stewart fired me.” Now, that’s a story you want to hear! On her recipe page, Gormley adds a little more flavour to the tale: “I can’t tell you the whole story of getting fired, because, well, we all love Martha, don’t we? We do. You just need to know that after she fired me and before I landed the next big job, I did certain things. I drank a whole bunch of martinis at the Red Cat around the corner from my apartment on West 23rd Street in Chelsea. I did a whole bunch of Barre Method classes because if I was going to be unemployed, I was going to look good. And I made a whole bunch of chocolate chip cookies in my quest to perfect them. Thirty-eight different batches, in fact. A tweak here, a tweak there. And then, the sea salt.” So, really, we owe these cookies to Martha. If it weren’t for her, we might never have gotten our hands on this delicious recipe!

Ingredients: 2 sticks (226 g) salted butter, softened, ½ cup (100 g) sugar, 1 cup packed (238 g) dark brown sugar, ½ cup packed (109 g) light brown sugar, 2 large eggs, room temperature, 2 tsp. (10 mL) vanilla extract, 2 ¾ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour, ¼ tsp. (3.5 g) smallish-to-medium-grain sea salt for batter, more for topping (Maldon preferred), 1 tsp. (5 mL) baking soda, 1 ½ tsp. (7.2 g) baking powder, 2 ¼ cups (510 g) semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (chunks are better, chopped for texture, use one-and-a-half 12-oz. bags).

Recipe: Preheat the oven to 182°C (360°F). Cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes on medium-high speed). Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Mix in the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until the dough comes together, then add the chocolate and mix until well distributed. For best results, chill the dough for 24 to 48 hours, but if short on time, it’ll still turn out great. Scoop dough balls slightly larger than a quarter and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkling each with a bit of sea salt. Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are golden and the centres are puffy. Once out of the oven, slam the pan gently to flatten the cookies, then sprinkle with more sea salt and let them rest on the sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to a cool surface and allow them to set for 3-5 minutes before serving.

We can thank Martha Stewart for giving Gormley the push she needed to perfect this recipe, and let’s be real — without that twist of fate, we might have never tasted such cookie greatness.