People often ask me for my chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I am always proud to hand it over. Proud, because it's taken me a long time to develop that recipe. I started baking cookies in high school. It began with my grandmother's recipe, scribbled in her crooked cursive on a small index card. Then, one day, because my afternoon snack was a bowl of chocolate chips, I made an amazing discovery on the back of a Nestle Toll House bag. A new recipe where nuts and oatmeal were optional! I soon converted to baking that cookie, much to my grandmother's dismay. They tasted less healthy to me, which was important at the time. I, was, a, REBEL.
Of course, I soon discovered that mimicking the Nestle Toll House cookie was the exact OPPOSITE of rebellious behavior because, well you know, Nestle is a massive corporation and that recipe is copied by billions.
High school soon came to an end, as all good things do (joke), and I stopped baking in college. I'm not sure why? Wait, wait, I know exactly why. No car for food shopping, broken ovens, mice infested kitchens, and an overall distraction from everything that didn't involve alcohol.
Now, in this calm old age of 30 (ok, 28 with a month left until 29), baking has become my therapy. Something about the process reassures me, feeds my soul (and my love handles). I wonder though... had I opted for the other kind of therapy a long time ago, would I have more money in the bank? Good European butter and rich dark chocolate can get spendy. But who cares, because this is how I have developed my own basic cookie dough recipe. Basic, meaning, it can be altered an infinite number of ways... WILD!
If you ask me how I settled upon the recipe I use today, I will not tell you, or else I would have to kill you. Besides, that would be a terribly boring and LONG story. I will say... the more brown sugar the better, never forget a dash of salt, take your time, gather inspiration from everywhere and everyone, and practice makes perfect! Oh, and my grandmother would be happy to know that I've re-added nuts and oatmeal to the mix... healthy(er) can taste pretty sweet too.
BASIC COOKIE DOUGH RECIPE:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*Here's where you add what you want. Chocolate chips, oatmeal, raisins (ew), you name it. If you DO make chocolate chip cookies, I recommend adding 1 tsp of espresso powder with the dry ingredients, mmm mmm.
Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time. Then add vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Slowly add to butter/sugar mix. Add your fixin's.
VERY IMPORTANT: bake for 8 minutes or so, remove from oven when cookies look slightly underdone. This will ensure a moist (hate that word), chewy cookie for days.
Ready, set, BAKE!
4 comments:
I slather on the vanilla as well, at least 2 or 3 depending on how many I'm making. I completely agree about the salt - if I'm putting in dark chocolate & walnuts I usually add a tiny bit more salt to bring out the flavor.
OH, PS - My mother's trick is amazing, put a piece of bread in with the Tupperware. I swear this works miracles. The bread will get dry and crusty, and your cookies stay soft!!
ooh PS: do you refrigerate your dough? I usually do... it makes the cookies a bit less melty.
YES! Sometimes I do refrigerate my dough. I wish I would have included that in the blog. God damnit Chantal.
I made these tonight beacuse I was bored and needed cookies. I added 1/2 cup of plain yogurt in replace of 1/2 of one of the sticks of butter. And oatmeal too!! Delcioussssss
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