Ohh, that smell? Can’t you smell, that smell? Lynard Skynard FTW! But really, what smells bring you nostalgia? Is it your grandma’s chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting? Is it the smell of Thanksgiving dinner wafting in the living room while you watch football? That smell is nostalgia.
If someone asked me what my favorite memory growing up was, I’d think back to the smell of fresh baked cookies lingering in the kitchen while I was licking beaters full of chocolate chip cookie dough. OMG, so divine! No care in the world that I was consuming raw eggs, or eating enriched-bleached white flour. I was more interested in the smooth, creamy, sweet delight that was hitting my palette. As I was getting older and capable of turning the mixer on and learning do not touch the racks in the oven without holders (ouch), I started to make my own cookies. 60% dough consumption; one pan of cookies made and then I got lazy from sugar coma.
Fast forward a few decades, I made Chocolate Chip cookies for my family, and I see how funny it is that the boys have stepped directly in the same path as I did. Pray for them (haha)! Watching them build their cookie dough creation, salivating like hyena’s and when the time comes, dig in and lick the beaters.
Just recently, Jackson was craving chocolate chip cookies. I was about his age when I started to make my own cookies too, so we took a field trip to the grocery store. We walked the aisles and picked up the ingredients we needed. Once we got home, he followed the directions on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate morsels recipe and he failed. Failed miserably. It was a learning opportunity for him to distinguish the difference between tsp and tbsp.
My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is from The Ultimate Southern Living cookbook. The cookie recipe lives up to its name. The variations of double chip and jumbo are just as amazing.
Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 11 minutes per batch
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounce) semisweet chocolate morsels
Directions:
- Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well.
- Add eggs one at a time, add vanilla and beat well. Combine flour, soda, and salt; add to butter mixture, mixing well. Stir in chocolate morsels.
- Drop cookie dough by using Pampered Chef’s medium scoop on the reversible silicone baking mat on the cookie sheets.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to11 minutes. Cool slightly on cookie sheet before transferring to wire racks.
Yield: 6 dozen
Per cookie: Calories 72 Fat 4g
Cholesterol 10mg Sodium 39mg
Double Chip Cookies: Prepare Best-Ever Chocolate Chip cookies, using 1 cup of peanut butter morsels or butterscotch morsels and 1 cup of semisweet chocolate morsels instead of 2 cups of semisweet.
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies: Prepare Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, dropping them into 1/4 cup capfuls. Lightly press cookie with fingertips or back of a spoon into a 3 inch circle. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Yields: 1 1/2 dozen cookies.
Resource: www.ndcapitalchef.com/home/best-ever-chocolate-chip-cookies