Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies ... they're a classic right?  They seem to be the cookie that almost everyone likes. Unfortunately I never really liked the way my chocolate chip cookies turned out.  I always just made the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House package and time after time I was disappointed in the results.  I yearned for a perfect chocolate chip cookie that was comparable to one you would purchase at a bakery ... BIG, soft and chewy!!  So I started trying out some different chocolate chip cookie recipes until I found this show stopper, the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe that comes out perfect each time and just like the bakery cookies...perhaps even better.  Seriously, you've got to try these!!!  I've made this recipe several times and I will NEVER go back to the Toll House package recipe.  Granted, you can still use the Nestle chocolate chips, no issues with the chocolate just the recipe. I like to mix half semisweet chips with half milk chocolate chips but you can choose to use one or the other.  I have also tried this recipe with half chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips.  

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips.  Refrigerate 2-3 hours.  

3. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

4. Using 1/4 cup measure dough and roll into balls.  Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart, press down slightly with the palm of your hand.  These make really BIG cookies so if you don't want them to be this big you can make them half the size using a cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons in size).  

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a metal spatula.

Makes 18 BIG cookies or 36 normal sized cookies.  Leftovers?... freeze them in a ziplock baggie, they thaw out in about 20 minutes and you can't tell they were ever frozen.  

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies