Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

If I could pick any dessert I had to live with for the rest of my life, I would choose cookies over any other option. More specifically, chocolate chip cookies. Not that there is anything wrong with cakes, brownies, pies, ice cream, candies or any of the other multitude of sweets, I just would pick a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie over anything else.

There are a million plus one recipes to make chocolate chip cookies. You can have crunchy cookies, chewy cookies, or anything in between. I am not here going to tell you how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I am only going to tell you how I like to make my chocolate chip cookies.

I will give some advice, not so much on how to make the cookies, but more on what ingredients to use. To steal Papa John's slogan, "better ingredients, better cookies."

Process

You can find any ol' cookie recipe on the back of any chocolate chip package. If that doesn't work for you, go online and take one of the multitude of recipes, even mine. Either way they are more or less similar. The way eggs are used, ratios of brown and granulated sugar or anything else might vary but the end result is the same.

As I said above, ingredients make the cookie. Use Baker's flour, higher quality chocolate, etc. If you have never used Baker's flour, try it. You will never go back. Period.

Combine the ingredients as listed below in the directions. Make sure to mix the butter and sugar bits well but once you add the eggs, do not over mix as beating too much air into the dough can cause the eggs to coagulate and not set as desired.  Also, hand mix in the chocolate chips to avoid any over-mixing.




Some helpful hints I have found useful in baking cookies:

• Use parchment paper for three reasons: 1) cookies tend to not burn as easily when compared to directly contacting the cookie sheet, 2) cookies are very easily removed without having extra grease to do so, and 3) clean up is a breeze!
• Pack the brown sugar tight! It makes a difference.
• If you have a KitchenAid Mixer use it. It has been one of the best purchases I have made. Baking is tenfold easier with it.
• Freeze the dough. Not only does cookie dough keep well when frozen (so you don't have to bake all the cookies at once), if you bake it when the dough was frozen, the center cooks slower than the edges. This allows for a crispy outside and gooey center..also known as wonderfulness.
• Don't over-bake. It is much better to pull them out slightly too early as the cookies will continue to bake outside of the oven.
• Make sure you have a big glass of milk ready for when the cookies are fresh out of the oven and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups Baker's Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter (unsalted, melted)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 T vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F and line cookies sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt and put it aside. In another bowl, mix the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Make sure it is well mixed.
3. Add in vanilla extra, egg and egg yolk and beat until creamy. Then add the remaining dry ingredients you set aside earlier until blended.
4. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand with a wooden spoon.
5. Place on cookie sheet with a few inches between cookies. The size can vary from a large dollop to ¼ of a cup. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
6. Let cool on a baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.