Really good chocolate chip cookie recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup Melted Butter (or 3/4 Cup for a flatter cookie)
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Cups Milk Chocolate Chips (or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips) Milk chocolate chips are tastier in these cookies.
Optional: 1/2 to 1 cup Walnuts
Optional: 1/2 cup Toffee Bits, like Heath (in the Baking Section) – excellent!
You can decrease the chocolate chips to 1 cup if you use the Toffee Bits.
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease cookie sheets very lightly or line with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the Melted Butter, Brown Sugar, and White Sugar until well blended.
4. Beat in the Vanilla, Egg, and Egg Yolk until light and creamy.
5. Add the Baking Soda and Salt, and beat for another minute.
6. Add the Flour until just blended.
7. Stir in the Chocolate Chips (and Walnuts and/or Toffee Bits) by hand, using a wooden spoon.
8. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
9. Bake for 15 – 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.
10. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a tray or pan to cool completely.
SUGGESTIONS:
• Refrigerate the bowl of dough for an hour, or as much as overnight. If you do refrigerate it overnight, then leave it out for about 1/2 hour in room temperature before baking. The cookies have a more rounded appearance after the dough has been refrigerated.
• Instead of dropping the cookies onto the cookie sheets, you can use your hand to shape them into “balls” about the size of a golf ball.
• Or, if soft enough, you can also use an ice cream spoon to drop them to the cookie sheet.
• For thicker cookies, shape them “taller” and narrower, rather than flat and wide. In fact, I have baked them almost cylindrical with a more vertical height than width. This is my favorite way to bake them!
I use a large melon scoop to make the cookie balls and parchment paper, which makes things a lot easier. I baked a big batch of these this morning since my son’s coming home from college. A real man can hold down a political debate and bake cookies at the same time.