Very Very Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, you know how I love my cookies? Well I am always searching for the best recipe out there. I like traditional good ol' fashioned chocolate chip cookies. I don't particularly like nuts in them, nor do I like cookies that are too chocolatey or fudgey. I like them to be soft and chewy in the middle and crispy on the edges. Is this asking too much? What is funny is that you can put a plate of cookies that are nothing like the above description, and I will still eat them. Haha. But I still want to have a good basic recipe up my sleeve and in my freezer at all times. So I started searching and I came across this great blog Savory Sweet Life. The writer, Alice, had a post that was called The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe EVER! But everyone thinks their recipe is the best ever right? But I was intrigued by her sea salt ingredient. I am currently on a sea salt + sweet combination kick. Actually, she had me at "EVER". Something about those caps...


The result: these cookies were pretty darn good! The consistency was perfect and I love the sea salt kick! Thanks Alice!

I baked half the dough and saved the rest in my freezer for later!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever 

(by Alice from Savory Sweet Life)

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks)  salted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour

1 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt *please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie.  If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips  *I realized grocery stores sell bags of chocolate chips in 12 oz bags but this recipe really needs every last chip. Otherwise you’ll get cookies with only a few chips in each one and this recipe requires lots of chocolate to bulk the cookie up.  You’ll need about 1 1/2 bags.

Directions

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.  Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated.  Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed.  The cookie batter should be somewhat thick.  Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes.  Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface.  Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving.

*Alice's Helpful Troubleshooting Tips*

If you’re cookies are coming out flat and not like the pictures there are probably 3 reasons for this.

#1) Baking powder and Baking soda is old. If your baking powder and soda is older than 1 year and has not been in a sealed (preferably air tight) container, it has lost some of it rising qualities.

#2) Creaming. It is not enough to just cream the butter and sugars until it has come together.  This recipe requires you to beat it with a mixer for 3 minutes until the texture of the butter and sugar turns to light and fluffy-just like the picture.

#3) Flour. Flour should be weighed.  This can make or break the recipe because just scooping flour into a measuring cup will never yield ideal or consistent results.