Chocolate Chip Cookies

Skip To Recipe

If there is one cookie that comes to mind when people think of me, it would be the chocolate chip cookie.  It is my signature cookie.  I’ve had this recipe memorized since I was a teenager.  (Don’t ask me what I wore yesterday–that I cannot recall.)  Looking back, I think I made chocolate chip cookies once a week in high school.  My friend Kevin always wanted to come over after school when he knew there were chocolate chip cookies hanging around.  We would sit at my kitchen table and he (“he” not “we”) would devour a plate of cookies while we chatted about the day.  I’m talking like a dozen cookies in one sitting.  It just occurred to me that maybe he ate so many cookies so he didn’t have to answer my prying questions. Hmmm…that Kevin is so sneaky!

Whatever cookies survived Kevin’s attack would surely be eaten by my stepbrother before the next morning.  I used to have to hide a couple cookies in the back of a cabinet so I could enjoy them the following day.  (This is not the only food I’ve been known to hide.  If you look in the back of my cabinets, you’ll likely find an emergency bag of M&Ms, some peanut butter cups and maybe a halfmoon cookie from a recent trip to Utica NY.  I’m sure there’s a fancy name for this type of eating disorder, but I don’t know what it is and I haven’t come up with a clever name yet!)  Nowadays my father-in-law is my biggest chocolate chip cookie fan.  Although he won’t eat a whole plate in one sitting, he does request them often.   My husband and son on the other hand–they say my chocolate chip cookies have “too much chocolate” in them.  As if such a thing exists!

No conversation about chocolate chip cookies would be complete without mentioning one of my family’s great debates–chocolate “chips” vs. chocolate “chunks”.  I always made these cookies with chocolate chunks.  Always.  It’s what the original recipe called for, and I loved it so no reason to change it.  But in an effort to make a cookie my husband and son would enjoy, that didn’t have “too much chocolate”, I started using chocolate chips instead.  I resisted at first, insisting the chocolate chunk was superior–-what could be better than chunks of chocolate?  But then I decided to truly view the chocolate “chip” cookie objectively.  And you know what?  I liked it.  Possibly more than the chocolate chunk cookie.  While the chocolate chunks give the illusion of more chocolate in each cookie, the chocolate chips allow for a higher “chocolate to dough” ratio–so there’s chocolate in every single bite.  Genius!  Unfortunately switching to chocolate chips didn’t leave my husband and son drooling over these cookies, because I still use too many chocolate chips (according to them!).  I promised my son the next batch would include a few cookies that are “heavy on the dough, light on the chips”.  That should make the entire household happy!  The cookie batter itself is delicious, so you can’t really go wrong here.  In fact, you can throw in any combination of add-ins from your cupboard—mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, M&Ms, white chocolate chips, oreo pieces (so good)…whatever floats your boat!

What’s your preference–chips or chunks?  My heart will always be on “Team Chunk”, even though my taste buds are currently shouting “Team Chip”!

WARNING:  If you make these chocolate chip cookies once, you will be making them forever. People will keep asking you to make them, again and again.  And you will do it, because they are so quick, easy and delicious, and you like making people happy.  You might as well put your bummy pants on now—I see lots of “taste-testing” in your future.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Print

Yield: 34-40 cookies

Serving Size: 1 cookie

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 (12 oz.) package chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks if you prefer)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, sugar, butter and shortening; beat until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla extract, almond extract and egg, mixing until well blended.
3. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and cornstarch; mix just until flour is moistened.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
7. Cover cookie sheets loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
8. Preheat oven to 375°F.
9. Remove cookie sheets from refrigerator and remove plastic wrap.
10. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.
11. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes

I use a rubber spatula for all the mixing (not an electric mixer).

I measure the vanilla and almond extracts by using a ½ tablespoon measuring spoon—I fill it halfway with vanilla extract then top it off with the almond extract. You can omit the almond extract and use 1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract if you prefer.

If you don’t have parchment paper, just bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheets, and wipe your cookie sheets with a dry paper towel between batches.

If you don’t have room in your refrigerator for the cookie sheets, or if you have extra dough that didn’t fit on your cookie sheets, you can refrigerate the dough in the mixing bowl, covered tightly with plastic wrap. When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove the mixing bowl from the refrigerator and let it sit out while the oven preheats (or until the dough is soft enough to scoop onto the cookie sheets).

For uniformly sized and shaped cookies, use a cookie scoop like this. Or refrigerate your dough in the mixing bowl then roll dough by hand into tablespoon-sized balls. They come out a little too perfect for my taste when they are hand-rolled. I prefer the cookie scoop.

The recipe can be doubled in one bowl. If you’re going to triple it, use separate bowls for each batch.

Bake just one cookie sheet at a time (this goes for any cookies you bake!)

2.6

http://www.sweetsbeforeeats.com/chocolatechipcookies/