Chocolate Chip Cookies

Utensils Required:

Mixer (I've been happy with Kitchen Aid, but each to their own)
3/4 (or 1/4) (measuring) cup
1 (measuring) cup
1 TSP
1 regular spoon
Cookie Sheets (choose wisely as it can make a difference on the results)
Secondary mixing bowl
Sifter
Cooling racks

Ingredients Required:

2 sticks of butter (NOT MARGARINE)
3/4 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup of packed light brown sugar
1 tsp of Vanilla
2 eggs (L or XL - XL is better)
~2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 to 1 tsp of Salt
1 small bag (or about 3/4 of a large bag) of Nestle Milk* Chocolate Chips
*I grew up on Semi-sweet, but once I discovered Milk Chocolate Chips I never went back!

How to Make it:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees*
*You're going to have  practice  here based on your oven and type of cookie sheet. Thinner cookie sheets are good at 325 degrees, thicker cookie sheets are better at 350 degrees, and then  there's the timing factor for  how long to leave in the oven that you'll need to experiment with.

2) Set butter in mixing bowl to start to soften

3) In the sifter, add [in this order] a cup of flour, then the tsp of baking soda, and then the tsp of salt (I use about half a tsp so the cookies don't taste too salty, but you'll need to experiment a bit to see what you like the best), and then the last 1.25 to 1.5 cups of flour. I tend to go for about 1.5 cups of flour to keep the cookies thicker. Less flour will flatten them out. Sift it all into the secondary mixing bowl and set to the side for the moment.

4) Add the two sugars, ONE of the two eggs, and vanilla into the main mixer bowl and and mix. Mix well. Mix it until you see little or no chunks of butter. Turn the mixer off (you don't want to do the next part while the mixer is running unless you like cleaning up a giant mess).

5) Add the sifted flower mix.

6) Turn the mixer on low - lowest or second lowest setting and let it run slowly for a minute or so. Once you see the mix breaking into small chunks that are not flour white, speed it up a notch or two and THEN ADD THE SECOND EGG! (this is the 'secret' - adding the second egg at the end does something to making things come out wonderful). 

7) Crank up the mixer and let run until the dough is thoroughly mixed and then go ahead and add in the chocolate chips and let it run a bit longer to get them mixed in nicely.

----------------PAUSE HERE-------------- This is where you can assess how your cookies are going to come out. 

- If the batter is creamy and sticky, you're going to likely end up with thin flat cookies that will probably burn instead of cooking evenly. You'll want to add another half cup of flour and mix longer. 

- If you can roll the dough in your hand into a ball (like a snickerdoodle) they will likely be too thick and have a floury taste to them. I don't know a trick to saving them at this point. I've tried adding a third egg and a little extra sugar, but usually I just accept that they won't be one of my top rated batches.

- The dough SHOULD be somewhere between the two scenarios described above. Not to creamy and sticky and not too 'hard' and doughy (think 3 little bears scenario where the middle is just right). 

8) Use your regular spoon, scoop out the dough into roughly half inch drops of dough. Depending on the size of your cookie sheet, you'll likely average about 16 cookies per sheet in a 4x4 matrix. I've managed to get as much as 25 on a single sheet if I make them smaller. Again, you're going to have to experiment a bit to get them the way you want them. 

9) Put them in the oven at 325 for 12 minutes (350 if you are using a thicker cookie sheet). This is where things can get interesting.

• If you leave them in too long, they're going to get crispy and/or burn.

•  If you don't leave them in long enough, you're just eating raw warm dough.

• Here's how I do it. I let them cook for 12 minutes and check them at that point. the tops of the cookies should just be starting to turn light brown and looking to have firmed themselves up nicely. I then pull them out of the oven and leave them on the cookie sheet for another 4-5 minutes to 'finish' baking. This tends to make the bottoms get a little bit crispier while keep the rest of the cookie chewie. Then I put them on the cooling rack.

If you do it right, you should end up with a cookie that isn't too crispy or chewy. The goal is to avoid a hockey puck or what amounts to essentially raw dough the never finished cooking.

Plan to make a few batches wrong, but like anything - practice makes perfect. 

Obviously feel free to experiment on your own. Change the type of chips. Add nuts if you like nuts. (Don't use raisins - that's just mean). This is how I make them, but you need to experiment to find out what you and those around you like the most.