On phpBB Weekly #026 yesterday, I don’t know how, but somehow we got to mentioning Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I got a couple of requests for my excellent Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe which has won first place a couple of times at the San Mateo County Fair. Anyway, here it is, just for your enjoyment! This recipe (like the rest of the content on my blog) falls under a Creative Commons License, see the footer for details.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup margarine or butter (about 1 1/3 sticks)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)
1 package (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips or 6 ounces of semisweet or milk chocolate chopped into pieces

Directions:
Heat oven to 375˚F. Mix both sugars, margarine and egg in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt (dough will be stiff); stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake until just beginning to brown around the edges, 7 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool for about 1-2 minutes, then remove from cookie sheet with a spatula and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack. Makes about 24 cookies.

Tips for Perfect Cookies:
Use sticks of unsalted butter. These can be softened either by leaving them out at room temperature for a few hours, or by microwaving them for a few seconds on LOW. When mixing the wet ingredients, be sure to fully stir in each ingredient before adding the next one; this will help ensure the smoothest consistency possible.
The dry ingredients can be sifted together directly into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Once sifted, gently stir in the dry ingredients with the wooden spoon, however be careful not to over-stir. You can stir in the nuts and chocolate chips once the batter is fairly consistent.
On a cookie sheet, be sure to use parchment paper, even if you’re using a nonstick pan. This will prevent the cookies from getting overcooked on the bottom and keeps the texture consistent throughout. Be careful not to oversize your cookies; the rounded balls of batter should be shaped about the size of a ping-pong ball. Also, be sure to give the cookies plenty of room between themselves and the edge of the pan; I found that fitting nine on a large cookie sheet worked out well.
Don’t leave the cookies unattended; check them every few minutes. Also remember that some batches will take longer to bake than others, as the oven begins to heat up. When most of the cookies start to show small signs of browning on the bottom and around the edges, take them out of the oven, even if the cookies don’t look fully baked. The cookies will harden as they cool. Cookies should be transferred to the wire rack within 2 minutes of coming out of the oven, and then allowed to finish cooling for about 10 minutes.

Tags: Chocolate Chip Cookies, desserts, phpBB Weekly, recipe, San Mateo County Fair