Kid Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
When I think of cooking for kids the first think I think about is chocolate chip cookies. Warm, melted, and chocolaty. Dip them in cold milk and there's no better after school snack. Since this is my first blog post I want to talk about food in general. Food for me has to look and taste good without being something that takes up every moment of your life. Food is meant to be enjoyed. If it takes too long to make or if it makes far too many dishes, I'm totally against it. Life has too many facets that demand a mother's attention. With that being said, I'm never going to put out a recipe that you can't work into your schedule. There will never be 27 steps to get to your end result. Who has time for that?!
I use this chocolate chip cookie recipe because it has a few things I like. I love cookies with large amounts of brown sugar. They always tend to be my favorites. This one has equal parts white and brown sugar. When picking chocolate chips always pick YOUR favorites. You can use ANY you prefer. I like Ghirardelli or high quality chips. If you want to go big or go home you can buy See's chocolate chips for a special occasion. Sometimes seasonal M&M's are cheaper than buying high quality chocolate chips. Feel free to make it fun and adjust this recipe to white chocolate chip macadamia nut as well. I've done that many times. I personally like milk chocolate chips and this recipe works well with them. The picture above includes Ghirardeli milk chocolate chips.
For even baking, use either restaurant quality baking sheets with parchment paper or Airbake pans.
I like those best because the cookies cook more evenly. Also if you want a cookie to hold together well, refrigerate your dough before you bake your cookies. Sometimes I will make the dough during the day and place it in the fridge until my kids come home from school. Then it's easy to bake a few trays and refrigerate any extra for another day. If you have company coming into town, you also can bake cookies and freeze them. When company comes, pull them out and defrost for fresh cookies. Even warm in the microwave if desired. Your kitchen is clean and you have fresh cookies for those visiting.
Kid Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 C. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 C. butter
3/4 C. white sugar
3/4 C. brown sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 C. chocolate chips
3/4 C. nuts (optional)
Blend butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla until mixed so there's no more chunks of butter visible. Add dry ingredients slowly into the bowl as you continue to mix. I use a Kitchen Aide mixer but you can do this by hand as well. Add remainder of ingredients leaving the chocolate chips and optional nuts till last.
If desired, chill for about an hour or longer. Spoon onto lightly greased cookie sheets (or lined with parchment paper). Bake at 375 degrees. For smaller cookies bake for 8-10 minutes and larger cookies for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen medium sized cookies.
*If you like less chocolate chips in your cookies double the cookie dough to the amount of chips.