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Chocolate Chips and Beyond!

© Sheri White

Ever since Ruth Wakefield added a chopped-up semi-sweet bar of chocolate into a basic butter cookie dough in 1930, the chocolate chip cookie has been almost everyone's favorite cookie. The chocolate chip cookie business is booming, from Mrs. Fields at your local mall to the little Keebler elves in the grocery store. But nothing beats a homemade, warm-from-the-oven, ooey-gooey, baked-from-scratch cookie. This week I will provide a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, plus a few variations.

A few tips for cookie baking:

1. Use good-quality chocolate chips, not the store brand. It really does make a difference.

2. Bring cold ingredients to room temperature before mixing.

3. Line cookie sheets with foil; it makes for much easier clean-up.

4. Always check the cookies at the earliest bake time. For instance, if the time for baking is given as 8 to 10 minutes, set your timer for 8 minutes and check. Keep baking in 30-second increments until cookies are golden brown.

5. Bake one pan of cookies at a time on the top rack of your oven.

6. Let cookies cool completely on a wire rack before storing.

Ready to bake? Let's go! We'll start with my (and my family's) favorite recipe.

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
1-1/4 cups light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cups chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended and creamy. Beat egg in mixture.

In a small bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts by hand.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 3 inches apart onto foil-lined cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes for soft and chewy cookies; 11 to 13 minutes for crispy cookies.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

These cookies disappear very quickly, so you may want to double the recipe!

Variations to this recipe:

1. For chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, decrease flour by 1/4 cup and add 1/4 cup cocoa.

2. For peanutbutter-chocolate chip cookies, decrease chocolate chips to one cup and add one cup of peanutbutter morsels.

3. In a hurry? Bake a pan of cookies instead! Press dough into a lightly-greased 15-1/2x10-1/2x1-inch jellyroll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until set and golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack; cut into bars.

Don't feel like dealing with lots of ingredients? Try this recipe:

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