Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

The cold season is upon us. Personally, that means I start baking warm desserts more than usual. I also enjoy a good hot chocolate in the evening, lately the weather has been nice in the mornings then it heats up later. Some of my favorite things to bake are chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles. Baking cookies is super easy, and they are quick to whip up too. From start to finish, my cookies usually take anywhere between thirty minutes to an hour. The longest part is usually waiting for the butter to soften however for this recipe I’ll be having you melt the butter…so it’ll be even faster!

Chocolate Preferences in Cookies

What kind of chocolate should you use? This is all a matter of preference, but I do know that the more expensive chocolates have a better flavor. It’s easy to buy the chocolate chips and dump them into the dough though. Alternatively, for a better and maximum chocolate flavor you can chop up chunks of chocolate. That is my favorite way to prepare chocolate for the cookies but it’s not always feasible. The chocolate may also melt more this way. Using chocolate chips is the easiest way to go plus they hold their shape better and so they look a bit nicer.

Now when we are talking about milk vs dark chocolate that is a bigger debate. I prefer a semi sweet to dark chocolate, but many people prefer the milk chocolate. One is sweeter than the other, so it’s just a matter of what kind of product you want in the end. Do what makes you want to eat your cookie (hahaha!). Once you get the cookie making process down…experiment! That’s how I found my flavor preferences and we all know everyone has them. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of cookie making.     

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Starts Here    

Let me preface this by saying, it took me several years to perfect the cookie recipe. It can still have some improvements, but this recipe is made to be easy to make for everyone. There are different techniques that I have used to make different versions of this recipe…this version is the most attainable. To start, you will need to cream the butter and the sugar. Beat this for about a minute or so. The butter will be creamed when it turns a lighter color, you will notice the butter mixture will also look a bit fluffier. Try not to over cream or under cream the butter either, that will change the texture of the cookie.

Next you will need to add the egg and the vanilla. I usually take the cookie mix off the stand mixer and whisk it by hand. Doing it this way usually ensures that the egg is not overmixed, and it combines with the sugar nicely. The end result should be smooth and should look like one solid mixture. I think it might work out the same if you just switch out for the whisk attachment, but I didn’t want to take any chances.   

Almost Done!

This is the second to last step add in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. So, through all my trials and tribulations I realized how important both of these leavening agents are. Baking soda helps the spread while baking powder helps the rise. Technically, baking powder is a combination of baking soda and cornstarch…so it’s interesting how they act differently. There must be some crazy chemistry going on. Anyways, I always used a total of a teaspoon for the combination of both; I finally found that half and half is the way to go. Also if you are using some older baking soda I recommend putting it in a sieve before adding it in. There could be hard clumps of the baking soda that won’t dissolve when you bake and will be unpleasant to eat.

Mix to combine both the flour and butter mixture. This is almost the finished dough, it should be soft but a bit tacky. It shouldn’t stick to your hands though. Through trial and error I found that a dough that was too dry hardly spread and a dough that was too soft spread too much. Without adding anything else I realized it was simply the flour ratio. I found a good ratio of flour to use. You can always add a tablespoon of flour if it is too soft.

Add in the Chips and/or Chunks

The last thing to do is add the chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, whichever you prefer. Mix it all together with a spoon. If you use a stand mixer or a hand mixer you will probably break up the chocolate and it won’t be as nice. I usually add about ½ a cup of chocolate chips, but one time I added 1 cup and boy were those cookies loaded. I recommend about ½ a cup so you can enjoy the cookie as well as the chip.

The bake time is somewhere in between ten to twenty minutes. I kind of keep an eye on it, but once the edges start turning brown take them out of the oven. They will continue to cook while they cool on the pan, so all we are really looking at are the edges. My mom prefers an extra crispy cookie and in this case, it will be closer to 20 minutes in the oven. Side note about the oven, but I usually let the oven preheat for 30 minutes before putting the cookies in. Not all ovens reach the correct temperature within the 10 minutes it takes to beep. So, I always give it a little more time.

That’s it!

That’s the whole recipe. It’s simple and straight forward, you can customize it however you like if that’s what you want to do. If you want a sweeter chocolate chip cookie then you can swap the brown sugar for white sugar. The brown sugar gives you a nice chewy cookie, so I prefer that. Although if you want you can sway ¼ cup of brown for white sugar. There are so many ways to customize the recipe if you want to change it up. That’s exactly what I did to find my own perfect cookie!

Desserts are about enjoying them, so have fun and don’t be afraid to test things out! Baking is a science though, so don’t feel bad if something doesn’t come out perfectly the first time. The recipe is down below so you can follow that first before you get all crazy! Enjoy it and see you next time!