Love-Crafted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Double this to fill a large mixing bowl to capacity, if more cookies are required you must use two large bowls and keep the dough separate;

2 sticks of salted organic butter

1 c white sugar

1 c packed brown sugar

2 cups of any kind of chocolate chip, I use fair trade low lead chocolate that’s semi-sweet or the less sweet 65%ish dark chocolate.

1/3 shot glass with super hot but not boiling tap water, or something small with a round internal cavity

1/2 t regular salt

1 t plus 4 pinches fresh baking soda. Do not use 2 yr. old box of soda that wasn’t stored airtight.

3-3.5 t pure vanilla extract, Costco sells this at a good price. Do not use imitation.

2 large eggs, from humanely treated chickens if available

3 c unbleached flour, a good one like King Arthur if available

4 sheet pans with parchment or 4 silicone liners. Also needed is a small cookie scoop.

This recipe starts with 2 sticks of organic butter left out of the fridge overnight to thaw. Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar until super smooth. Stand mixer or hand beaters work equally well. Either one scrape the edges as needed.

Add salt and vanilla.

Run the hot water from the tap into the shot glass. Add the baking soda with 4 extra pinches because some sticks inside the glass. Stir to dissolve soda. Pour into batter and mix well. This properly distributes it.

Add the eggs one at a time. Add the chocolate chips. Technically you can also add a cup of nuts but please don’t. No one will be happy nuts are in a cookie, if they wanted healthy they would just eat nuts, this is a fun treat. This has texture already. If some extra chips are in the bag but 1/2 cup or less just add those too they will be forgotten otherwise.

Add one at a time until 3 leveled by back of a knife cups of flour, combine but do not over mix because gluten. I generally mix this step by hand or spoon.

Store in fridge for 1 hour with plastic wrap over the top or no air touching. Or keep overnight but bring out for an hour before baking. Cold but not firm dough is vital to good cookies. Make sure the two racks are in the middle of the oven.

Preheat oven to 350 Scoop with cookie scoop or small balls all the same size onto 2 parchment/silicone lined sheet pans. Bake for 6 minutes then switch the two pans, then 4-5 more minutes. Ish. You bake until they look just barely done. You see it’s starting to get a brown spot or a little toasted, remove. This is also vital.

While baking start scooping the 3rd and 4th lined sheet pans. Check the oven has returned to 350 before putting these in. Only start scooping the first two pans again when those are entirely cooled, do not use a warm pan, remember cold dough.

Do not scrape off the cookies. Wait 5-8 minutes before touching them while they firm up. They will come off easy 96% of the time or you didn’t wait long enough.Cool and then store in airtight containers to give with the cookies. Add bows and thank you cards if you have time and send with love.