chocolate chip cookies.

In my opinion, every food blog needs to have a good chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's a staple. And unfortunately (for my waist line) it's become a staple in our house as well. Once you've caught on to a great cookie recipe, it's really hard to go back to Mr. Christie, however good his cookies may be.

As with most of my recipes, this chocolate chip cookie recipe is an adaptation of several different recipes. Practice really does make perfect! These cookies are amazing right out of the oven (well to be fair, I'd wait a couple minutes...I don't need a Tim Horton's style law suit on my hands) and just as good a few days later. They have the perfect ratio of crunchy to flakey to chewy to gooey to all-around goodness. 

I tend to take my cookies out of the oven BEFORE they develop a good tan...while they're still slightly on the pale side. If you remove them from the oven at this point, but let them sit on the baking tray, they'll continue to cook throughout without getting too crispy on their tops and bottoms. These rules can apply to your summer sun-tanning as well :)

The nuts in this recipe are completely optional, so your cookies will taste great either way. Because the dough in this recipe is so versatile, feel free to experiment with other "add-ins" such as rolled oats, raisins, M&M's or butterscotch chips...remembering to keep the measurements the same.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

- (1) cup of butter or margarine
- (1) cup of white sugar
- (1/2) cup of packed brown sugar
- (2) eggs
- (1) tbsp. vanilla
- (2 3/4) cups all-purpose flour
- (1) tsp. baking soda
- (1/2) tsp. salt
- (2) cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- (1) cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, beat together the butter and the two sugars until smooth. 

Beat in both the eggs and the vanilla. Set aside. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips, the nuts, or whatever "add-ins" you've decided to use.

Drop by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet, approximately 2 inches apart. I normally line my baking sheet with aluminum foil, but it can also be lined with parchment paper or dropped directly onto a greased sheet. Another tip when forming the cookies is to "form" them as little as possible. Rolled dough balls and pressed dough often create very plain, uniform cookies. If you simply drop a rounded mound of dough onto your baking sheet, you will end up with cookies with great character!

 

Pop the cookies in the oven for approximately 10-12 minutes (it varies with each individual oven). Remember that if you remove the cookies before they get too brown, you will end up with a softer, chewier cookie. Remove from the oven and allow to cool right on the baking sheet. Remember...Caution...Hot!