This is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever need. These cookies are crunchy on the edges but soft in the center with lots of melted chocolate oozing when you take a first bite! Our family’s favorite!

It’s been forever since my last post but I have been so busy with everyday life. Between kids and work there is very little time left for my blog. I have been baking quite a bit though but it usually happens late afternoon or evening when there is no natural light for taking pictures. So, I have some recipes that are worth sharing and hopefully I will one day!

We are in full Halloween mode here! Our house was the first one decorated on our street this year and the boys had fun adding skeletons, graves and webs to the front yard! Yesterday one of the schools hosted their 1st Annual Fall Festival. The rain threatened the entire day but we were very lucky as there was only a touch of drizzle a few times. I was helping out during the Bake Sale and was amazed how talented some people are when it comes to decorating cupcakes. I baked a Lemon Cream Tart, which is one of my favorite desserts (one day the recipe will be posted here), as well as a Banana Bundt Cake with Lemon Icing. My tart was sold first for whooping 25 bucks! The couple who bought it didn’t even wait till later to eat it. They invited few friends and enjoyed it at the spot! Yay! Next week my other son’s school is having their Monster Bash. So of course I signed up for bake sale there, too.

Today’s recipe is the only chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever need. I’m serious! These cookies are so good! They have a slightly crunchy edge with perfectly soft and chewy centers. Best of both worlds! And lots of chocolate. If I’m planning to add walnuts, which you can do here, I will use about 2.5 cups of chocolate chunks and chips and half a cup of walnut pieces. Otherwise, 3 cups of chocolate pieces will go in there!

As I mentioned in my other post for Brownies, using quality chocolate makes the difference. The inexpensive chocolate chips are quite processed and have a low percentage of cocoa which greatly affects the taste. It’s better to use is a chocolate bar that you chop into small, uneven pieces. It will be less processed than chips and it’s kind fun to “find” different size pieces of chocolate in a cookie. I like to use Scharffen Berger and Guittard brands for my baking (available at Target and Amazon). As far as the kind of chocolate to use here, feel free to experiment. I usually bake with a combination of bittersweet and semi-sweet chunks.

If you already have a favorite cookie recipe and don’t feel like trying a new one (although I recommend it), do it once with a great quality chocolate chunks. I guarantee you will love the cookies even more (well, maybe that’s not such a great thing?)!

This recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours, and it is perfect so I made no changes. I baked them a bit shorter than recommended bake time, but it depends on your oven.

The recipe yields about 40-45 cookies, so have at least 2 large baking sheets ready as well as a cooling rack. Make sure the baking sheets have cooled down before baking another batch, otherwise the cookies start to bake sooner. The Golden rule of baking cookies: always take them out of the oven when they look slightly undercooked! Otherwise, they will be too dry and overcooked, as they continue to cook on the baking sheet while cooling down. After recommended, usually 2-3 minutes, cooling time transfer the cookies onto the cooling rack. The cold air can circulate around them and cool them faster.

To make these cookies, start by placing the oven rack in the center (too close and the cookies will be overbaked on the bottom) and warm up the oven to 375°F. In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt.

Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat 2 sticks of butter (make sure they are at room temperature) for about 1 minute until smooth. Add white and light brown sugar and beat about 2 minutes until well incorporated, pausing few times to scrape the butter mixture off the bowl. Slowly add the vanilla and chocolate (if you have it) extracts and eggs, one at a time and beat for about 1 minute after each egg addition.

Turn the speed down to slow and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions. Mix only until incorporated.

Add chocolate chunks and chips as well as walnut pieces, if using. Stir well. Using a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, place the dough on the baking sheet lined with silicone mat or parchment paper. Don’t overcrowd the sheet.

I bake the cookies for 8 minutes total, rotating the baking sheet halfway. I strongly recommend using a timer here! Add up to 3 minutes if needed, but watch the edges (should be slightly golden) and center (still soft and a bit undercooked). The cookies will be slightly puffy at first but when cooled down they will get thinner.

Using spatula transfer them onto the cooling rack and continue with the remaining batter. Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container for 3-4 days (if they last that long, of course).

Makes: about 45 cookies    Prep time:15 minutes        Ready in: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks (226 grams) of butter, room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• ⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon of vanilla and chocolate extracts each
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 ½ cups of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate chunks/chips or 15 oz chocolate bar, chopped (if not using nuts, you might add ½ cup more)
• ½ cup of walnut pieces (optional)

Directions:

1. Place an oven rack in the center and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with non-stick silicone mats.
2. In a small bowl mix together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Add both sugars and beat for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides with spatula. Add the both extracts and eggs, on at the time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition.
4. With mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until incorporated. Add chocolate chunks and walnuts and stir well.
5. Using an ice cream scoop place the dough on the baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at the time, for 8-11 minutes, rotating once about halfway (I rotate mine after 5 minutes, then bake another 3). Remove cookies from the oven, cool down for about 2-3 minutes and transfer them onto the cooling rack, using the spatula.
6. Using a cooled down baking sheets, repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
7. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Enjoy!

Recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.