THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is a running joke in my family, "Kim! You are the Jill of all Trades."

 I blush and kick my foot in the dirt, because really I just like to try to master the things that I love, whether it be painting in watercolors, making some darn good pizza, photography, blogging, or just making the best bread, cookies, or quilts imaginable...I am there, doing it, for no one else but me.

There is something about challenging yourself to make something close to perfection. Something about losing yourself in whatever it is you are doing, somehow it is the best way to find yourself, at least it is true for me anyway.

So, today I will share one of my little bits of perfection with you. I make these cookies every single time my nephew Viktor comes to visit. He tells his other aunts, "You don't love me as much as Aunt Kimmie because she makes me chocolate chip cookies!" He loved them up until his last visit anyway, when he decided to dip them into chocolate milk. Instead of saying they were gross because of that, he yelled, "These are GROSS!" When his dad came to pick him up, he and his friends declared that they were in fact, quite delicious.

Recipes are hard because what tastes amazing to one family and may be their VERY favorite, may taste too strong or not good to another family. I based this recipe off of ones that use an equal brown sugar to white sugar ratio and they turn out to have the best color, flavor, and consistency. This recipe took me a good year to figure out. I hope you enjoy. Make some and come back and let me know how they taste will you?




Chocolate Chip Cookies   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1 large egg 1 stick of softened butter  (yes butter, accept NO substitutes) 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar   Beat egg until light and fluffy, add softened butter and sugars. Continue mixing until ingredients are well incorporated. They almost turn into a very light cream color. You can see it happen.   Add:
1 tsp real vanilla extract Mix. Add: 3/8 teaspoon salt  3/8 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 cups flour Mix ingredients well. You may need to add up to 1/4 cup extra flour. You kind of just need to feel it. You don't want the dough sticky, this will make your cookies flat. You want to add enough flour so when you touch it, it doesn't stick to your fingers, but not so much that it doesn't stick to itself. If you measure your flour correctly you will be anywhere from exactly 1 1/2 cups to 1 3/4 cups of flour.  Finish off by adding: 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. (I have found with the butter you don't need to grease the sheet.) I also like to use a 1 Tbsp scoop to do the job, it makes the cookies come out the same size and very presentation worthy. Bake for 12-13 minutes until turning slightly golden brown around the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes and place on cooling rack to cool, or eat them warm, who can wait that long?