The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

This summer, I have been on a quest to compile the very best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER.  This is all started back in May when I got my oh-so-wonderful KitchenAid stand mixer from CraigsList.  One of the first things I used it for was a batch of cookies made with the Nestle Tollhouse recipe.  They tasted yummy, but the dough seemed a little thin and they got stale really quickly. 

I don't know what possessed me, but I decided that if I'm going to take this whole motherhood thing seriously, I need to make EXCELLENT chocolate chip cookies.  And so I embarked ... I looked for recipes in cookbooks, online, from friends, and ended up playing with the ingredients myself and coming up with my very own mix ... at least, I haven't found this exact combination anywhere else yet - I'm sure its out there somewhere, because really, how many ways can you combine flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate chips?  I don't even want to guess how many dozens of cookies I've made this summer (i now buy chocolate chips in bulk  ... monthly :), but I think I've finally arrived.  And you, my lucky readers, are going to get the recipe.

Now, before I give it to you, I have to tell you one thing I discovered.  Making the very best cookie depends a lot on what you're going for.  Some recipes are going for crispiness, cakiness, sweetness, buttery-ness, and any other kind of -ness you can think of.  My personal goal in these cookies was sweet-but-not-too-sweet batter, slightly crispy edges, chewy center, and the perfect amount of chocolate chips so that the cookies are full of them, but you still get to enjoy the buttery dough. So, here ya go...

Valerie's Very Bestest Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 dripping teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips



Allow butter to soften to room temp.

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in small bowl.  In a mixing bowl (or in the bowl of your oh-so-wonderful Kitchenaid), beat the butter with the sugars.  Then add the egg and vanilla, beating well to be sure fully incorporated.  Slowly add in the flour mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Ok, that's the recipe, now here are my own personal pointers...  (see? you knew there was a reason you came to our blog today! :)

1. Use all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt, instead of self-rising flour.  I really think it makes a difference.

2. Measure your sugars precisely ... too much makes the dough syrupy and too sweet, too little and they are cakey and not sweet enough.

3. Allowing the butter to soften first really is important for the texture of the cookie (I never believed this before and just zapped it in the microwave, but now I am a true believer).

4. What's up with that "dripping teaspoon" of vanilla?  Well, here's what i mean ... hold your spoon over the batter, and pour vanilla in till it overflows the spoon and drips into the batter.  I know it sounds crazy, but that's how much vanilla you need ... a little more than a teaspoon, a little less than 1 1/2.

5. Bake them on the oldest cookie sheet you have.  I have some nifty airbake sheets that work well for other things, but not these cookies.  For these I use the old, stained, beat-up one that I've had since college.  I don't know if its the "seasoning" of the pan, or the thickness, or the memories of all those past cookies wishing today's batch happiness that makes the difference, but I'm telling you, it makes a difference :)

6. I would now like to extol the glories of a cookie scoop.  All the cookies the same size?  Makes my organized, neat-freak self happy, and also ensures uniform cooking time.  Also, only put 12 on the sheet at a time, if you're using a standard cookie sheet.  In the interest of efficiency, I used to try to cram 15 or more cookies on there at once.  But really, these things are a labor of love ... just slow down and bake 12 at a time.  They bake more evenly.

7. Find your perfect bake time.  This varies by oven, but my perfect bake time is 8 minutes.

8. Take them off the cookie sheet as soon as they come out of the oven.  You could use a cooling rack, but as a throwback to my childhood and memories of sitting on my mom's kitchen counter and "helping" make cookies when I was a kid, I use a sheet of wax paper just like she did.

OK, I just re-read this post and realize that I sound a little obsessive-compulsive thorough.  I just may have made too many cookies this summer.  But anyway, enjoy!