Of course, the queen of all cookies is chocolate chip. Who can say no to a chocolate chip cookie? I can't even imagine offering one to someone and having them say no. Reason of allergy excluded, it's just not within the realm of possibility.
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I've been making the same one for years. I don't remember where I got it from originally. While I've pinned a million "best chocolate chip cookie" recipes on Pinterest, and looked at pictures of what the ideal cookie is "supposed" to look like (not like mine), I haven't tried another recipe or technique. I just like these. And I like them just the way they are.
These cookies are soft and not overly chewy. They don't crumble and they practically melt in your mouth, especially if you're getting one just off the cooling rack. If you manage to not eat them all immediately, they can be frozen and later thawed out to be almost just as good a fresh. They are easy to take to a party or give as a gift. And if all that's not enough, they also are simple to make and bake up quickly. The Little One has mixed them up before with just minor assistance, and I've made them with a class of 5 nutty six year old boys. So even if you are not baking inclined, don't be afraid to try these. I'm even including notes, in parentheses, in case you've never baked a cookie before in your life.
Ingredients:
1 c butter, softened (Leave the two sticks of butter out on the counter for about an hour, or until reaching room temperature. You should be able to dent the butter with your fingers, but it shouldn't be melted.)
1 c white sugar
1 c light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla extract
1 t baking soda
2 t hot water
1/2 t salt
3 c flour
2 c chocolate chips
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars.
("Creaming" means mixing butter and sugar up very thoroughly until they are fully combined and light and fluffy. Use both sticks of butter and both the brown and white sugars. This is best done with an electric mixer, but can also be done by hand with lots of beating with a fork. Watch as the mixture changes, and once it gets to light yellow and fluffy stop mixing. Over mixing can make butter and sugar separate, but this takes awhile so I wouldn't stress over the possibility of over-mixing very much.)
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
(Crack an egg, pop in in the bowl, then stir it up until combined. Repeat.)
4. In a tiny bowl or measuring cup, mix hot water with baking soda and salt. Add the mix to the large bowl, along with vanilla extract, and stir to combine.
(This is a tiny amount so I usually use a 1/4 cup measure to combine the water, baking soda, and salt. Just make sure to measure carefully and mix thoroughly.)
5. Mix in flour, one cup at a time, to make a dough. Stir in chocolate chips.
(This is pretty self explanitory. Dump a cup of flour into the bowl, mix it up, and then repeat x2. Same thing with the chocolate chips.
6. Drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto a greased cookie sheet.
(There is such a thing as a cookie dough scoop, which will help make nice, evenly sized cookies, but it's not needed if you don't have one. Just use a tablespoon or even a kitchen spoon to scoop out a ball of dough, and plop it on the pan. Leave the dough as balls. It will flatten and spread into a cookie shape as it bakes, so there's no need to smoosh the balls into circles. Also, because of the baking and spreading, make sure to leave space around each cookie so they don't end up baking together into conjoined twins. I usually space my cookies in rows of three and two, like the super-sophisticated drawing below.)
(This step is key. Only bake them for 10-11 minutes. They will not look done, and you're going to be tempted to put them back in the oven. Don't. Trust me. The cookies will continue to bake from the heat of the pan for those 5 minutes they are sitting there, and when they are finished cooling you will have something that is soft-baked and delicious.)
8. Enjoy.
Makes approximately 4-5 dozen cookies.
(The exact yield is going to depend a lot on the size of your dough balls and how much dough you eat while baking. Obviously, smaller cookies = more cookies. Now, the dough does have raw egg so you probably shouldn't eat it and all, but, I've eaten a lot of raw dough and haven't died even once.)
Nutrition Information:
(For a yield of 4 dozen, from CalorieCount.About.com)
I'm labeling these as an "under 200 calorie" recipe because each cookie is under 200 calories, but clearly they are not a health food and have no redeeming qualities beyond taste. And happiness.
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