I’m sure I’ve probably written before that I’ve found the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, but this time it’s really true! Actually, I’m sure that makes me sound like one of my kids, saying I know I’ve never wanted this or that more than anything else ever. But this time it’s really, really true

My favorite kind of chocolate chip cookies are thick and chewy, the ones keep their shape when they come out of the oven. I’m not crazy about cookies that flatten out, thin as pancakes.

Thick and Chew Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups + 2 Tb all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together, set aside. Mix butter and sugars in mixer until well combined. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Using a cookie scoop, place cookies two inches apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Today is the last day of school for my kids, and it’s also a half day so I’ve just put a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the oven. I plan on having some homemade ice cream sandwiches ready for them when they get home.

You’ve probably come across this before and it couldn’t be easier: Make your favorite batch of chocolate chip cookies. I’m just making the good old Tollhouse cookies today but I’ve done it with oatmeal chocolate chip as well and they’re amazing.

Let the cookies cool completely, and get your ice cream out of the freezer long enough that it’s softened up just a bit. Using a scoop (not a big one - you want to be able to get your mouth around it!), put a scoop on the bottom of one cookie, and then squish another cookie on top of the ice cream. Voilà! Instant ice cream sandwich!

Play with it! Put the ice cream in a bowl first and let it soften up enough that you can mix in chopped nuts, a swirl of chocolate syrup, a dash of cinnamon (especially good if you’re using oatmeal cookies), etc. And don’t stick with just vanilla ice cream - chocolate is excellent of course, and I like java ice cream in mine.

Eat the sandwiches immediately or wrap in some wax paper and put in the freezer, but not for too long because the cookies will get soft.

Snickerdoodles, ginger snaps, and other cookies work really well too, but we’re all about the chocolate here!

[image: flickr]

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day!

NCCD always falls on May 15th and is intended to celebrate the wonderfulness that is chocolate chips and their popularity in our cooking and baking. While there is no congressional record or proclamation that today is officially a “national” anything, it’s still a valid holiday in my book! And of course, there are ecards.

The above video gives you some great tips on how chocolate chips should be added to baked goods. I’ve always kept my chocolate chips in the freezer by default (they get too melty in the cupboard), so I was glad to see that mentioned!

What’s your favorite recipe involving chocolate chips? What is your favorite brand of chocolate chips to use?

My favorite recipe is my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and I prefer the Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips.

Dreena Burton hosts an episode of Everyday Dish: Vegan Cooking and demonstrates how she makes her easy vegan chocolate chip cookies!

The recipe is below the cut:

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It’s chocolate chip cookie day! A couple of us are under the weather but we decided we wanted to try one that was new to us while still keeping it relatively simple. These are pretty tasty!

Emeril’s Big Chocolate Chip Cookies

2-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped, toasted walnut pieces (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Place the butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream together on high speed.

Add the vanilla and egg and mix on medium speed. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until batter is stiff.

Turn off the mixer and, using a large spoon or plastic spatula, fold in the chocolate chips and the walnuts, if desired.

Using a tablespoon, scoop about 2 spoonfuls of the dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, keeping the scoops about 2 inches apart. Using your fingers or the back of the spoon, press down on each ball of dough to slightly flatten. You should get about 9 cookies on each sheet.

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. (Depending on the size of your oven, you may need to do this in batches.)

Remove cookies from the oven and transfer with a plastic turner to wire racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining sheets, if necessary.

Yield: About twenty-seven 4-inch cookies

My daughter brought home a note from her teacher yesterday requesting cookies for an end-of-year school party tomorrow. It was short notice but I was able to go with an old standby: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl cream shortening, butter, vanilla, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add eggs and mix thoroughly.
3. Combine the baking soda, salt and flour and stir into creamed mixture.
4. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips and stir until well blended.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes.

There are some things you just can’t imagine living life without. For some it may be their computer, or indoor plumbing, or their car. But for many of us, it is difficult to imagine life without chocolate chip cookies.

But there was a time before chocolate chip cookies were invented. Yep, I kid you not. And it wasn’t even all that long ago. Mankind existed for centuries without tasting even one smidgen of chocolate chip cookie.

It seems that sometime in the early 1930’s, a lady named Ruth Wakefield was baking regular chocolate cookies. Wakefield was the owner of the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. She didn’t have any baker’s chocolate, so instead she used small pieces of semi-sweet chocolate, thinking that it would all melt and blend in. Well, we know what chocolate chips do in cookie batter - they don’t melt and blend in, they remain as delicious chunks of chocolate.

Being the wise women she was, Wakefield knew she had a winner. A few years later she sold her recipe to Nestle. Her payment? A lifetime supply of chocolate chips.

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I don’t fly often, but now I know what airline I want to go on when I do. Midwest Airlines bakes chocolate chip cookies onboard and serves them to their passengers. Just imagine the aroma their planes must have. It’d be quite a change from that other unmentionable odor on the buses I’ve travelled on. Talk about getting customer service right!

Midwest in based out of Minneapolis and flies throughout the United States. They’ve been in the news recently amid rumours of a hostile takeover bid. Let’s hope the cookie baking never changes.

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