Growing up, my sister and I were pro's at making chocolate chip cookies.
We had the Nestle Toll House cookie recipe completely memorized and could whip up a batch of those cookies in no time flat. We were very dedicated to perfecting our cookie making skills and spent a lot of practicing our craft during our early years.
Admittedly, we weren't the slightest bit creative about those cookies (although, probably like every kid, we did attempt to make one humungous cookie from the batch once or twice).
Overall, we were happy with that basic Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe -- especially when we got the combination of ingredients, mixing, and baking time & temperature just right and it created a perfect mix of crispy and gooey in the cookies.
There's nothing better than the perfect combination of crispy and gooey!
However, long after those early days in my baking career, I was introduced to another class of chocolate chip cookie... one that is head and shoulders above the cookie made from the standard Nestle Toll House recipe. Between Mrs. Field's, custom bakeries, and even the Costco bakery, I came to realize that there was a world of incredible chocolate chip cookies out there that I never knew. This world was definitely something I wanted to be a part of, so I started my quest to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Throughout my cookie quest, I tried a lot of different chocolate chip cookie recipes -- from adding pudding mix to the batter to trying flour-less recipes -- and many, many were disappointments.
Then, a few years ago, I came across a video from the Mrs. Field's bakery that changed my thinking.
The video explained the Mrs. Field's basic process for making their cookies and it was quite different from any other recipe I'd come across. It called for cold salted butter (most recipes call for softened, unsalted butter), it had a lower baking temperature, and baked the cookies for a longer period of time. According to the woman in the video "low and slow make Mrs. Field's cookies crispy with a soft center."
I was sold and ready to give it a try and, you know what? I made some of the best chocolate chip cookies ever using this method!
So, here's my current Chocolate Chip Recipe -- it creates large, crispy and gooey cookies!
The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Ingredients
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. salted butter (cold and cubed)
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla (NO imitation vanilla please! Be sure to use real vanilla)
2 c. chocolate chips (I like to use a mixture of white and milk chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Add sugars to a mixing bowl and combine.
- Add the cubed (and cold!) butter to the sugar mix and combine until it forms a grainy paste.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix enough to combine, but stop before the sugars start to dissolve.
- Slowly add the flour mixture and chips and mix on low speed just until everything has been combined.
- Place the cookie batter into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the batter for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the cookie mix from the refrigerator and scoop onto baking trays lined with parchment paper (I use an ice cream sized scoop which creates really big cookies). Be sure to leave plenty of space between each cookie -- you don't want them to touch while baking.
- Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from oven and immediately transfer to a cool surface.
Enjoy!!
ps - I must be getting old because I was super excited when I made these chocolate chip cookies yesterday and my husband asked if I had somehow gotten hold of Costco's White Chocolate Chip (Macadamia) Cookie recipe.... When I was younger I probably would've preferred something like "You look so pretty today" or "That dress looks great on you", but now, I can't think of a better compliment than one about my cookies. ha!
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