Chocolate Chip Cookies

everyone needs a good chocolate chip cookie recipe in their back pocket. this one will make you the best baker around.

we often get wrapped up in making fancy cookie and trying out new recipes, which is amazing and we should always try new things. but, nothing beats a great, soft, and chewy chocolate chip cookie.

Ingredients you will need

• Butter – you can always use margarine or lard but for me, the flavor and texture created with butter is by far the best way to make cookies.
• Granulated sugar- sugar adds the sweetens needed to make these cookies great.
• Brown sugar – adding brown sugar creates the chewy texture and the depth provided by the molasses in the brown sugar.
• Eggs- used to bind all the ingredients together
• Vanilla – adds a warm flavor to the cookies.
• All-purpose flour – most other flours can be substituted if you have certain dietary needs.
• Baking soda – helps the cookie to rise.
• Kosher salt – brings out the flavors of the other ingredients.
• Chocolate chips- use any kind you like, personally I like semi sweet and dark but if you like milk, white or any other kind of cholate chip that will work also.
• any other ingredients you want to add – this cookie recipe is great for a base and allows for so much creativity. add any nuts, caramel, pretzel pieces or any toppings you would like to try.

How to make Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Pre-heat

preheat oven to 375°f. if you are choosing to make the cookie dough ahead of time and chill it in the fridge for a few hours do not pre heat until you are ready to bake these cookies. this cookie dough does not require chill time.

2. Soften butter

About an hour before baking remove butter from fridge and set on the counter to come to room temperature to soften. You can speed up the process my cutting the butter into smaller pieces. After allowing the butter to soften and come to room temperature add it to a large mixing bowl.

3. Adding sugar

Brown sugar is great for making any cookie soft and chewy, if you don’t have any you can make some by combining granulated sugar with molasses until the color is the desired level. There is dark and light brown sugar on the shelf in the grocery store and the only difference is the amount of molasses added to the mixture. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar, and cream using a hand beater or stand mixer if you have it. beat until everything is combined.

4. Adding eggs

Add 2 eggs and vanilla, and stir until fully combined. if you don’t have vanilla it’s ok you can use any extract you have on hand it will only change the flavor of the cookie slightly. if you don’t have any, omitting it from the recipe entirely will not affect the overall texture of the bake and your cookie will still taste amazing.

5. add your dry ingredients

You can mix your dry ingredients separately in a different bowl if you wish. I don’t find it necessary and am always up for making the least amount of dishes possible. Add in flour baking soda and salt. beat until fully combined and no flour is visible.

6. Adding chocolate

Now is the time to have some fun, add any kind of chocolate chips you want. Even add caramel pieces and pretzels for anything else you can think of. Add in chocolate chips and fold them in.

7. Spoon

I like to use a 1.5 tbsp small cookie scoop to make this part quicker but a measuring spoon or even 2 utensil spoons will do the job. On a lined baking sheet using a cookie scoop spoon out cookies leaving about 2 inches of space between each of them for spreading.

8. Bake

bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the middle is no longer shiny. every oven is different so keep an eye on your cookies, especially the first batch. part of the reason I like using a cookie scoop is that all my cookies are the same size and will cook evenly. so if you don’t use one do your very best to keep your sizing consistent.

9. cooling

Warm chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven are delicious but are careful not to burn yourself. Allow cookies to settle on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Note:

I like to save some of my cookie dough in the freezer so I can have fresh cookies made warm when the craving hits. and so that I don’t have 36 cookies made ready for me to eat them all.

scoop them into your hand and roll them slightly before placing them in a freezer-safe air-tight container or freezer bag and place in the freezer.