Baking 101: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I’ll be the first to say I love a hot and fresh chocolate chip cookie, straight out of the oven. Whether it’s plain, or topped off with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream, chocolate chip cookies are a real treat at just about any time of the day/month/year. One of the best parts of making good cookies is that it is probably one of the easiest dessert snacks that you can make. Let’s take a dive into these buttery and chocolatey masterpieces that we all know.

This recipe should yield roughly 12 cookies, depending on how big your cookies are. This recipe also takes about 1 hour to prepare, wait, and bake.

-What You Need-

• 1-1/2 Cups All Purpose flour(180 grams if you are weighing your flour like you should)

• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, soft but not melted

• 1/2 Cup White Sugar

• 1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar(I like using the dark, but light works as well)

• A Pinch of Fine Sea Salt

• 1 Egg(most baking recipes use extra large eggs, and for better flavor and texture, buy them fresh from your local farm)

• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda, dissolved into 1 Teaspoon of hot water

• 1 Cup of your favorite Chocolate Chips, or your favorite chocolate cut into chunks.

• Kosher Salt or Flaky Salt for finishing.

-Let’s Bake-

1) Preheat the hot box to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.

2) Add your butter, white and brown sugar to a mixing bowl, and mix until it becomes the consistency of cake frosting, and smooth in texture(this is called creaming, and is much easier with a stand or power mixer).

3) Add your egg to the mixture while mixing slowly, as well as your fine salt, vanilla extract, and baking soda mixture. Mix until completely incorporated.

4) Stir in your flour slowly to coat every flour granule with your mixture, and fold in your chocolate chips or chunks.

5) Place your cookie dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, or until it firms up a bit.

6) You will want to scoop your cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet using a spoon, or a disher(my tool of choice for easy measurements of cookie dough). Make sure all of your cookies are about the same size and space them out by a couple inches, or you are going to get a very large cookie when you’re done.

7) Bake your cookies for 10-14 minutes, or until you see a golden brown color start to form around the bottom side of your cookies.

8) Once fully cooked, remove from the oven, sprinkle with a light amount of kosher salt or flaky salt, and let cool for about 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

I may not be the best at baking, but this is a recipe that I go back to time and time again for the simplicity, and the flavor. Try making these cookies for yourself, because it is not only easy and delicious, but can be done in record time. As Always. Stay Happy. Stay Healthy. Stay Cooking