If I had to pick one thing to describe my childhood, it would have to be chocolate chip cookies. We always had chocolate chip cookies around the house because my father absolutely loved them. And they were always made from scratch—in fact, I can’t eat store bought cookies. They just don’t taste right.
When I was a teenager, my mother taught me how to make some of these classic chocolate chip cookies (a recipe from my grandmother) and I’ve been making them for my family and friends ever since. As a note, these cookies aren’t going to be soft like the kind you get from the grocery store—these are the old-fashioned style of cookies which are a little crunchy and meant to be dipped in some fresh milk.
Here’s the recipe:
- 2 sticks softened butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- dash of salt
- 1 bag of chocolate chips
- 1 cup oatmeal or chopped nuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 and grease two cookie sheets
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the egg mixture to the butter and mix until there are no more lumps and it is thoroughly mixed in.
- in a large bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Mix well.
- Combine the flour mixture to the butter egg mixture in increments, stirring together to form a dough.
- Dump in the chocolate chips and nuts or oatmeal.
- Drop by spoonful onto the greased cookie sheet, leaving at least an inch and a half between cookies.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are browned. Let cool on countertop for a few minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container.
As a note, the oatmeal and nuts are technically optional, but I find they help greatly with the overall flavor. The original recipe also calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but I personally find that to be a little too salty so I just use a dash in mine and it turns out great.
I’ve already written a post on how to make the best cookies ever, but with this recipe there are three really important things to keep in mind and they’re bound to turn out perfect:
- Make sure the butter softens naturally (resist the urge to microwave it!)
- Measure very carefully and add in the appropriate order
- Make all of the cookies the same size and far enough apart on the baking sheet.
That’s it! As with anything baking, make sure you stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on the first batch as it may take more or less than 12 minutes as each oven runs a little differently. My mother’s old oven was exactly 12 minutes, while my old apartment required more like 9 before they started to burn.
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