Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the best chocolate chip cookies ever, really.




We (J does the cookie baking) got this recipe from an issue of the dearly departed Gourmet magazine. Now the magazine automatically falls open to the crinkled-dough-encrusted page.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Gourmet April 2007 (normally I'd link to the recipe, but can't find it)



You will need:

• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips (or white chocolate or peanut butter chips, or nuts, or a combination, go wild, or not)

1. in mixer beat together butter sugars and salt until light and fluffy
2. add egg and vanilla and beat until combined
3. reduce speed and add flour, mix lightly until just combined
4. fold in chips. or nuts, or whatever
5. refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight (very important, if you don't, all that tasty butter will melt into one messy sheet-full of dough)
6. preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper of baking mats
7. distribute 2 tbsp mounds of dough evenly on sheets
8. bake about 7 minutes then rotate sheet and bake 5-7 minutes more, until edges are golden brown
9. cool cookies on wire racks
   




10. Share with a friend

Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

I found this recipe over on Poppytalk via Everybody Likes Sandwiches, and knew I must have them.

Unfortunately, I have terrible terrible cookie baking skills.

Luckily, my husband has fantastic cookie baking skills. And a sweet tooth. And a sweet heart.

So I got to eat delicious butterscotch oatmeal cookies just days after learning of their existence; I highly suggest you do the same.



Notes:

We got 36 decent-sized cookies out of this (well, 34 after sampling the dough.) Use a heaping tablespoon for each cookie.

I wasn't sure about the coconut in this recipe, but you can hardly taste it, and it adds a pleasant chewiness to the oatmeal. Of course I like coconut, if you don't, try just adding a bit more oats or substituting with pecans.

Don't be too stingy with the salt on top. We used some home-harvested red sea salt from a dried lake in Idaho (or something, the story was rambling) and the contrast with the sweet really enhances the cookie.



Have these with strong coffee for a delicious, if not so healthy, breakfast.

*****

Recipe credit to Poppytalk/Everbody Likes Sandwiches:


(adapted from The Canadian Baker)
1 c butter, softened
1 c brown sugar
1/4 c milk
1 t vanilla
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 c oats
1 1/2 c butterscotch chips
1/2 c flaked unsweetened coconut
flaky sea salt


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and the 1st salt measurement in a medium bowl.

2. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in milk and vanilla until combined. Slowly add in flour mixture and mix until just blended. Add in oats, butterscotch chips and coconut until incorporated.

3. Spoon up a large tablespoon of dough and drop it onto a cookie sheet leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Slightly press down on each lump to slightly flatten and sprinkle a flake or two of salt on each cookie. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown.