Thriving Parents

shifting Parenthood from barely surviving to thriving

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

At Kate’s birthday party, my cousin Alexandra and I were talking about chocolate chip cookies.   She wrote a post once about cheating when it came to chocolate chip cookies.  And so our conversation turned about how hard it is to make a chocolate chip cookie that is really good, especially compared to the bake and break kinds.  While I agree that the bake and break kind are good (and so easy to make), I disagree that it’s hard to make a good one. 
For years, I used the recipe on the back of the Toll House bag.  It was good.  Then I discovered the Kitchen Aid recipe, which is really good.  After I had kids, I realized the Kitchen Aid recipe had a little more of a sugary taste than I wanted in a cookie.  Then this past winter I bought a Betty Crocker cookie magazine and decided to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Um? Delicious!
I hadn’t made it in a while and decided to make it and blog about it. Here’s the ingredients:
Butter, Shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, vanilla, flour (I only use unbleached), and chocolate chips.
This is a picture of one of my helpers who could not stop saying, “I want chocolate chips!”  Caroline Grace can smell sugar a mile away.  I am convinced of it.  Her sweet tooth was inherited from me. 

Okay, first preheat your oven to 375*.  In a mixing bowl, put 3/4 c softened butter and  1/4 c shortening together and mix.  I use Crisco sticks because they are easier to measure and less messy to measure.  Once they look relatively mixed together, add in 1 c packed brown sugar, 1/2 c granulated sugar, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Mix again but mix well, remembering to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Add 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla and mix until combined.  Add flour about a half a cup at a time, while mixing, until you’ve added 2 1/2 c.  Add 3 cups of chocolate chips and either mix with the mixer or with a spoon.  Now, here is an important part of my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I ONLY use milk chocolate chips.  ONLY.  I personally don’t like the taste of semi-sweet and somehow, I don’t think the break and bake kind have semi-sweet either.  Here’s what it looks like when the batter is all done:

This is also the point where my “helpers” appeared again.  This is why:

Mama shares cookie dough! 
Now, I know. I know.  Cookie dough contains raw eggs.  It can cause salmonella.  I know that all.  However, I know how great it tastes, so I share.  I loved making cookies with my mom when I was little and she always let me have a taste, too.  Great memories. 
Okay, back to the recipe.  I always use a Pampered Chef scooper to make sure my cookies are all the same size.  Plus, it’s so much easier to do.  I have two sizes and sometimes make the big ones and sometimes the smaller ones.  Today I did both.  I made the smaller ones first. 

Pop them in the oven for 8-9 minutes or until the edges are *just* getting brown.  Don’t wait until they are completely brown because then they’ll be hard when they cool.  When I take mine out, they actually look like they aren’t quite done yet.  But once they sit and have some time to cool, they’ll look perfect. 

Can you see how the edges barely look browned?

I’ve also found that the smaller cookies take less time than the larger cookies, obviously.  I let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 3-5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.


And here’s a picture of how Caroline Grace feels about them:
She told me that a cookie monster lives in her belly and she’s going to need more tomorrow.
So please, give these a try and then come back and let me know what you think!
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups milk chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375* F.  In a large bowl combine butter and shortening.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.  Stir in chocolate pieces.
2.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 9 minutes until edges are just starting to get brown.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool.  Makes about 60 cookies.
Enjoy!
–k

Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving.

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Comments

  1. StaceyB says

    I LOVE chocolate chip cookies and only bake with semi sweet. I feel certain that's what is in Nestle's premade dough because it's delicious. 😉 I'll give this recipe a whirl because you love it. Not normally a fan of Crisco in my food (or icing!)

    • StaceyB says

      I forgot to try these! I bookmarked the blog this came from and totally forgot your recipe was among the 31 cookies. How fun! I'll give them a whirl, now that it's 6 months later. Ha!