Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve been carrying this recipe as a note on my iPhone for over a year, so that at any given moment, no matter where I am, I can make these cookies. It has come in handy a surprising number of times. There are a lot of terrible chocolate chip cookie abominations out there, but this recipe is certainly not one of them. It is chewy, buttery, delicious, and consistent. I’ve never had a problem with it making weird puffy cookies or melting into some sort of cookie lace.

I believe the recipe was originally circulating the internet as a “Top Secret Recipe” for Mrs. Field’s cookies. It doesn’t actually resemble Mrs. Field’s cookies particularly, and if anything is an improvement. (Her cookies smell nice, but they are overly sweet and don’t have any depth of cookie flavor.) These cookies are best freshly baked, but they turn out pretty well after having frozen the dough as well. You can freeze a portion of the dough in balls on a pan, and then store them in a Ziploc bag once frozen. Just take one or two out the freezer and bake them whenever you like.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from an Internet circulation of “Top Secret Recipes”
Makes 2 dozen cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
½ cup white sugar
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 ½ teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cup flour (King Arthur All-Purpose preferred)
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ c chocolate chips (Ghiradelli semi-sweet preferred)

Preheat the oven to 350. About ten minutes before you are ready to begin, remove the unsalted butter from the fridge. Be sure it is unsalted. It should be cold, but not too hard when you start. Put the butter alone into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 1-2 minutes on medium until fluffy and smooth. I usually turn the speed up to high for ten seconds or so at the very end. Add the white and brown sugar and beat another minute. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat again until combined. Next combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a sifter. Do not skip this step due to laziness. Sift the dry ingredients into the stand mixer bowl, and turn the mixer on low. Once the flour is pretty well incorporated turn the speed up to medium for 10-20 seconds. Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.

Drop the cookie dough in golf ball size portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving about two inches between each cookie. Remove from the oven when the cookies are still slightly underdone, about ten minutes. Allow them to cook on the pan for another 1-2 minutes out of the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack or paper.