My Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and Tips

During my time as a baker, I feel like I perfected a method for making chocolate chip cookies. Or any cookie for that matter. The ingredients are fairly typical but the way they are "assembled" and baked makes the WORLD of difference.

TIPS:
- This makes a LOT of cookies. I scoop all of the dough onto lined cookie sheets and freeze it, then place the balls of dough into zip lock bags. Makes it SO easy to pop as many cookies as we need into the oven and they turn out just as well as if they had been mixed minutes before.
- Melt your butter. Completely. Seriously.
- Add one ingredient at a time and make sure it is completely folded/mixed in before adding another one.

When I worked at the bakery, I got seriously spoiled by a mixer just like this. Yes, the bowl itself is almost 2 feet tall. I may have told JP I want one for our house one day. HA. My mother in law asked me today why I was only using one blade on the mixer. I only use one blade and run a spatula along the sides to fold the ingredients in, because that was the best way to make sure everything was completely creamed and mixed in the big mixer. To me, that is still the best way to do it. You can take the girl out of the bakery, but you can't take the baker out of the girl. ;-)

 "True sign of good things to come. #loadsofbutter #Christmasbaking#myfamouschocolatechipcookies #hubbysfavorite" 

"Mmmmmm"

INGREDIENTS

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 cups butter, MELTED(this is key)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

3 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

3 1/2 - 4 cups Nestle Tollhouse Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

Place melted butter into a LARGE mixing bowl. Add each of the following ingredients one at a time; sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, eggs. Make sure each ingredient is completely folded in. Add the dry flour mixture in slowly, making sure it is completely mixed/folded in. Add the chocolate chips.

Space your cookies apart depending on how big of a scoop you use. I use a small OXO style cookie scoop. This makes cookies spread to up to a 2" diameter.

Bake on a mid to high rack. Bake for 10 - 14 minutes. I always pull my cookies out when the bottom is golden brown and the top is cooked but still gooey in the center. By making sure they are still gooey in the center, your cookies will stay soft like a fresh baked cookie. Yum!