It's been a while since we've posted any dessert recipes, so I decided it was time to add some more sweetness into our blog (plus I had a craving for cookies). I love them, but only make them if I have someone to whom I can give them. You see, self-control is a struggle for me, especially when sugar and chocolate are involved. Thankfully my husband's coworkers are big fans of baked goods and I can bake, save one or two cookies for me (not including the dough I eat while baking - but, shhhhhh, don't tell anyone), then send them to work with him!
I have tried so many different recipes for chocolate chip cookies, but was often disappointed. I found one that I liked, but decided to continue my quest for the perfect recipe. Again, nothing but a lot of disappointment, so I returned to my old recipe and I'm glad I did. Lots of compliments from the hubby's coworkers! So, here's my favorite recipe (for now) for the classic chocolate chip cookie.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened (has to be real butter!)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl (I use my KitchenAid mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer), cream butter until pale yellow and shiny.
Add sugar; mix until well-combined. Add brown sugar and mix well.
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| The brown sugar should be packed tight enough that it holds its shape once you take it out of the measuring cup. |
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| After the sugars have been mixed into the butter. |
Add vanilla* and egg; mix well. Add the flour mixture in 2 to 3 increments, mixing until almost combined after each addition. Once all the flour mixture has been added, make sure dough is well mixed. Add chocolate chips; mix until evenly distributed.
Drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart. You can use a cookie scoop or just a regular spoon (cookie scoops are convenient, but mine's broken, so I just used a regular spoon).
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are light brown. Allow to cool 1 to 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely (if they last that long!).
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| These actually weren't quite done, but I didn't get any other pictures. You'll want to bake them until they're a little darker than this, but not much darker. |
Cookies are easy to make ahead of time and freeze. There are two ways to freeze cookies.
- Bake cookies; place in zip top bag and freeze.
- Scoop the dough into balls. Place dough balls on a cookie sheet and freeze for 10-15 minutes or until dough balls begin to harden. Place dough balls in a zip top bag and freeze. When you're ready for some fresh cookies, simply pull the desired amount of dough balls out of the freezer and place them on your cookie sheet. You can bake them frozen, but add a little time to the bake time.
Mmm, yum! After being on a gestational diabetes diet for the last couple of months, I am SOOOO ready for chocolate chip cookies! Bring on the desserts!!!
ReplyDeleteAnother easy way I like to freeze cookie dough is in a log. I just roll the dough into a long, 2 inch thick log, wrap with wax paper and freeze. I make up a TON at a time and freeze the individual logs in a gallon Ziploc bag (I can fit quite a few cookie dough logs in one bag). Then when I am ready to bake them, I just pull a log out of the freezer, slice off as many cookies as I want (about 1/2 inch thick rounds) and bake. It's really great when I need to bring a dessert somewhere or when I just want a few for the kids and myself. But I do always run the risk of digging in the freezer and pigging out on frozen cookie dough when my self control is at a low :-).