Joy of Cooking CCCs

Thus begins the Cookie Battle.  I am on the hunt for the best recipes for various staple foods: roast chicken, biscuits, flourless chocolate cake.  It's a matter of taste and authenticity, making sure that the recipe speaks to what we've eaten and liked in the past.  And what better place to begin than The Joy of Cooking: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Forgive me for my blatant disregard for copyright, (Simon & Schuster Inc., 2006) but who's reading this blog anyway?

yield: 36 2 1/2 in. cookies

1c + 2T all-purpose flour

1/2 t baking soda

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 t salt

1 1/2 t vanilla

1 c chocolate chips

opt: 3/4 c chopped walnuts or pecans

375 F

-Grease 2 cookie sheets.

-Whisk together flour and baking soda

-In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar

->Add egg, salt and vanilla

->Add flour mixture

->Stir in chocolate chips and pecans

-Measure out heaping teaspoonfuls, 2 in. apart.  Bake one sheet at a time until slightly colored on top and edges are brown, 8-10 minutes.  

This recipe yielded about 22 3 1/2 in. cookies.  They were the flat, chewy kind with crisp edges, with little chocolate chip islands surrounded by dark cookie moats.  They have a nice caramel flavor that is rich but not too sweet.  

Next time: I'll refrigerate the balled dough before baking to reduce spreading (the chocolate chips were stranded in the middle of each cookie).  I also added pecans to half the cookies, and probably won't next time: they stick out and don't really add anything texture or flavor wise. 

Delicious Twist: Making the cookie without chocolate chips, then sandwiching them with melted chocolate to make florentines.