We All Scream for Chocolate Chip!!!

To be an expert cookie baker has been a lifetime goal. But when I'm ready to bake, "Chocolate Chip!" seems to be the only request I get. I love to bake variety but rarely get the chance. So by popular demand, I'm sharing America's favorite cookie, only better. After being praised for my Chocolate Chip cookies for years, I'm now sharing my secrets.

This is adapted from America's Test Kitchen's recipe that I have used for years, tweaking to make it practical, quick, easy, and devourable!

If you're like me (an experienced cookie baker) just scroll down to my Fast Forward (FF) version without all the fuss and commentary. Otherwise, stick around for a step-by-step version of what has given these cookies so many requests at my kitchen for almost two decades.

• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 sticks butter, melted
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips (Nestle' or Girradelli semi-sweet preferred)
• 1, 8 oz. bag of Heath English Toffee Bits

One of my favorite things about this recipe is the melting of the butter. Many times I want to bake on the spur of the moment, but because I didn't plan ahead to soften my butter, there is a delay. Melting the butter saves the day. I put all three sticks in my microwave dish and in one minute, it is melted (a few soft unmelted parts are not a problem). So one minute and we're off and running!

I scrape the butter into my mixing bowl (I use a Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer) then quickly add the sugars, putting the mixer on "stir" mode at first. I slowly increase the speed as the butter and sugar are combined.

Next, add the eggs and egg yolks. After combining them into the mixture on "stir", I slowly increase the speed until I am beating the mixture quite strongly. Letting it mix at this higher speed for a while helps the sugars dissolve in the egg's moisture and gives a nice creamy texture

Next, add the vanilla and thoroughly combine. (Note: You can use expensive vanilla like I have pictured if you like, but I've learned that the imitation that costs about a dollar or so a bottle is a very good quality choice and nothing to apologize about.)

The next step is the dry ingredients. Many times you see recipes asking you to sift them all together before adding them. Although I like the best outcome, I'm not doing a cooking show, and baking cookies is not the only thing I have to do most days; so here is my faster, practical method:

Eliminate the sifting. Scoop the flour into the measuring cup and level off, then dump into the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients. (Don't mix yet.) Dump the salt and baking soda right on top of the dry flour. THEN, take a wire whisk, and incorporate the salt and baking soda into the flour without disturbing the wet ingredients. After you do this, put a spill cover around the rim of the mixing bowl (if you have one) and turn the mixer on as slow as you can. (If you don't have the spill cover, you could hand mix in the dry ingredients a little before turning on the mixer to avoid the flour shooting up over the sides before combining with the wet stuff.) This process eliminates the salt or baking soda from being in a clump somewhere in a similar way that sifting all of the dry ingredients together would.

Continue mixing, slowly increasing the speed, until all ingredients are mixed.

After the wet and dry ingredients are fulling incorporated (no need to over-mix), then dump in your chocolate chips (2 cups or one 12 oz. bag). Personally, I think you can use too many chocolate chips, so I use a reduced amount from what is usually called for in recipes. It also leaves some room on the pallet for the flavor of my secret ingredient!

Turn the mixer on the slowest speed to distribute the chips throughout. Then for my SECRET INGREDIENT, add the Heath English Toffee Chips. This gives a new dimension to the flavor of the chocolate chip cookie and creates a fan base for your marvelous baking! (I have never found a Chocolate Chip Cookie Lover that doesn't love the addition of the toffee chips.)

Although the America's Test Kitchen directions give steps to make these cookies huge like the gourmet cookies available individually in boutiques and specialty bakeries, at my house, they are eaten by hungry farmers and ravenous grandsons. No gourmet touches needed here. And they taste just the same. So I just use a cookie scoop measuring 1 1/2" (4 cm) across. You can use other sizes (just adjust the baking time).

I put the scoops of dough about 2" apart on the cookie sheet. I prefer a cookie sheet without sides with the addition of parchment paper, so that after removing from the oven, I can scoot the parchment onto a clean counter and quickly yank out the cookie sheet from underneath. The parchment holds the cooling cookies on the counter (and an added bonus: no cookie sheet washing). The cookies will still bake a little on the counter before cooling. This also frees up the cookie sheet for me to begin filling it with the next load.

Bake at 325 degrees (300 in a convection oven). Start checking at 10 minutes, but bake as long as 13 if needed. I like the edges to be slightly brown and the inside just past raw. (I many times mutilate one of the cookies when checking to see how raw the center is.) This gives a crispness and a chewy center all in the same cookie. Yum!

I'm also a stickler about freshness. I don't like a cookie to be out more than 48 hours before being eaten. For this reason, I freeze most of them as soon as they cool and just put out a few at a time as needed. But if you have a crowd, no freezing needed.

This recipe is a double recipe as I never have found a reason to make a smaller amount. They keep well in the freezer.

Other tips:

You can make the dough and scoop it into balls, then freeze the balls on a cookie sheet. After frozen, they can be stored in a freezer bag until you're ready to bake. You can put them in the oven frozen and it bakes just fine.

You can also mix the dough and then keep it in the fridge. Chill up to three days before using it. I've found the added time for the dough to chill and the ingredients to meld make the cookies chewier (and good).

I hope you become famous for your Chocolate Chip Cookies soon! (And someday, someone may ask how you get that toffee flavor in them.) Happy Baking!

• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 sticks butter, melted
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips (Nestle' or Girradelli semi-sweet preferred)
• 1 8 oz. bag of Heath English Toffee Bits

Mix wet ingredients, then dry, then combine. Stir in chips and toffee. Bake 325 degrees (300 for convection baking) for 10-13 minutes until slightly brown on edges and just past raw in the center. Enjoy!