See what I did there? Left myself room to improve and let your mom hold first place for the best cookie ever in your heart. I don't want to compete with your mom's recipe either but I have tried several over the years for chocolate chip cookies and this one has made it to the top of my list so far. Sorry, but not sorry Mom. But if she made me cookies, I'd eat them any day, not going to lie about that.
Sometimes you just need a good chocolate chip cookie. Or it's National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and you're feeling the pressure. That's May 15th, write it down so you don't have to hear about it on the radio on the way to school with a kid in the back seat. Or sometimes you just have too many half used bags of random chocolate chips laying around and they need to be made into something. It's an awful problem to have, I know. These delicious chocolate chip cookies will win you bonus points with your friends and family, or in my case, the construction crew working on our deck and a 9 year old who is excited to hear that he can have any cookie from the plate, not just the ugly ones that can't be sold or presented to the public.
My favorite part about these cookies is that you can use any kind of chocolate you have on hand which is perfect for using up the leftovers in bags that are laying around. It also means that every time I make them, they are a little different. I have used combinations of mini-chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips, M&M's, holiday candy, you name it. My favorite so far has been the dark chocolate chunks with milk chocolate chips and M&M's. Feel free to add in as much as you like as well. I kinda eyeball it and see what looks like a good dough to chocolate ratio. Some days I add more because I have just a bit left in a bag and some days I add less because I didn't have that many leftovers in the pantry and didn't want to open an entire new bag of chocolate just for a little bit. It kinda defeats the purpose of this recipe.
These are also super quick to mix up; I had this batch made and the first tray in the oven in less than 15 minutes because the deckers were packing up and I had promised them cookies. The use of a 'scoop and plopper' cookie scoop speeds things up as well. Do note that if you try to hurry, you might slip and crank your mixer up to high speed and shoot flour all over yourself, your kitchen, and your floors. Don't say I didn't warn you. I also have to warn you that you will smell like vanilla and butter and sugar and you might get hit on by an old man or two at the grocery store.
Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 30 cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups of any kind of chocolate chips or M&M's you have
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
In your mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and creamy. You're looking at a few minutes here.
Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the butter/sugar mixture and keep one egg white in another bowl. You can save the second egg white for another recipe or discard it.
To the separate egg white, add the cream of tartar and whisk until foamy.
Beat the vanilla extract and then the egg white into the butter/sugar/egg yolk mixture.
Stir in all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix until it just comes together.
Now add your chocolate and mix until it is evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Using a cookie scoop (I use this 1 1/2 tablespoon size one), scoop out dough onto your baking sheets and press lightly with your hand to help them spread out a little before going into the oven
Bake until edges just start to turn lightly brown, about 7-9 minutes. This greatly depends on your oven and the size of your cookies.
Remove from oven and leave on warm sheet to cool for another 4-5 minutes where they will continue to bake a little more. Cookies will be soft and tender in the middle and have crisp edges.
Note: You can make these cookies larger by using a 1/4 cup measuring cup or two scoops worth of dough per cookie. Increase your baking time and increase your belt loops because you can't eat just one!
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