Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Here's a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe that's sure to become one of your favorites. It uses semi-sweet chocolate chips and brown sugar to conjure up some of that old-fashioned cookie goodness. A few tips:

• Let the butter, eggs and milk come to room temperature before you cream them.
• When creaming the wet ingredients, the longer you mix them, the more air you'll incorporate, giving you a lighter cookie. For a chewier cookie, mix just enough to combine the ingredients.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• ½ lb unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• ¾ cups granulated sugar
• ¾ cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp salt (table salt, not Kosher salt)
• 2¾ cups pastry flour, or 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 12-oz package)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Let all the ingredients come to room temperature before you begin.
3. Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugars and the salt on low speed. Note: The longer you cream these ingredients, the more air you'll incorporate, giving you a lighter cookie. If you want a chewier cookie, cream only enough to combine the ingredients.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until blended.
5. Sift the flour and baking soda together into a separate bowl.
6. Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until they're combined.
7. Mix the chocolate chips and nuts into the dough.
8. Prepare your baking sheet pan by greasing it with butter or shortening or lining it with parchment paper. Or use a silicone baking mat, which is my favorite technique.
9. Using a 1 oz scoop or the equivalent, drop 1 oz balls of dough onto your sheet pan, leaving enough room between them to allow for them to spread.
10. Bake 8-12 minutes or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies are beginning to look golden brown.
11. When the cookies are cool enough to handle but still warm, remove them from the pan and cool them on a wire rack. You can eat them as soon as they're cool enough that they won't burn your mouth. Or if you'll be storing them, make sure they've cooled thoroughly first.

Makes about 45 cookies. The recipe may be halved, or you can prepare the dough through step 7 and freeze some or all of it for later. To freeze cookie dough, roll it into a tube and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Later you can simply unwrap the tube, cut the frozen dough into single-cookie slices and bake normally.

 

http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/r/chocchipcookies.htm