I thought it appropriate that the first official recipe I post on this blog is my very favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I have been making these cookies since I was about 10 years old and have the recipe memorized so I can't even tell you where I first got it. Growing up, Sundays were a day for me to bake. It took me awhile before I perfected this recipe, as I always seemed to put too many chocolate chips in. Yeah, big problem, I know. One tradition I did have when making this cookie dough at home was that I would bring my mom a spoonful of the finished dough, you know, quality check. Whenever I'm at home visiting now, if I make cookie dough, she still holds the honor of having the first bite. I've shared this recipe with countless friends, yet whenever I make these cookies, I'm reminded of my friend Alicia. She loves, no LOVES, this cookie dough. Many a weekend we've spent together with cookie dough and The Princess Bride or Grease. She had a cabin that we would frequent over the summers and somehow, hmmmm, yes, somehow we always had the necessary ingredients for these cookies. Nothing like cookie dough in the woods to bring it all together.
The fantastic thing about this recipe, aside from how both the dough and the finished product taste, is how simple the recipe is. I've seen various other chocolate chip cookie recipes that have all sorts of different measurements for the sugar and the flour, etc. This recipes is mainly whole cups and teaspoons. Please observe*.
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream the above ingredients and then add:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (could you imagine what a whole teaspoon would do?)
Mix in the dry ingredients until almost all mixed.
And then you add the chocolate chips, 1 and 1/2 cups. That's the trick to this recipe.
Also, I've always kept my chocolate chips in the freezer and I think adding cold chocolate chips enhances the cookie dough.
Mix all those chocolatey nuggets of goodness in and be sure that all the dry ingredients have been thoroughly mixed with the wet ingredients.
Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes. I prefer my cookies a little on the underdone side while my husband likes them a little more crispy. Find what you like and go with it. Most of all, please enjoy the homemade goodness.
