chocolate chips cookies!

if you take a look at my post archive, you might notice that i’ve been going sweet-savory-sweet-savory to keep things interesting. and in planning out my baking schedule (yes, i keep a loose schedule), i realized that i had skipped one of my all time favorites. the first thing i ever learned how to bake.

is there any more comforting smell than chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven? of course, my mom’s chocolate chips cookies were the only ones i really enjoyed growing up. no refrigerated cookie dough in our house – only real butter and sugar. watching her bake seemed so effortless, but the end result was a transcendental experience. very rarely did the cookies make it off the cooling racks before being devoured by my sisters, brother and me.

when i started baking in college, i requested the recipe from my mom, and she mailed it on a 3×5″ index card as always. after baking the cookies for the first time, i called her to let her know that they came out great and that i was now an official accomplished baker. but i had to know where she got the recipe. i expected a story of the recipe being passed down from great grandmothers. instead, she asked me if had a bag of chocolate chips there handy. i did. “turn it over,” she said.

all these years, my mom had been making the nestlé toll house chocolate chip cookie recipe, a recipe that’s been on the back of every bag of semi-sweet morsels for about 70 years. i can still hardly believe it. but there’s something so indescribably perfect about the cookies she bakes, so i can’t bear to change a thing. to me, there is no better cookie.

i wanted to make something special this time, because these cookies are the last thing i will bake in my current kitchen. that’s right, i’m moving into a new place, leaving behind my 45 square food baking space that has served me so well for the past 2 years. the next time i post, it will be from a kitchen at least 3 times the size, so i’m ready to be spoiled by extra counter space and a full size oven with a working light.

i want to dedicate this post to my tiny efficiency apartment kitchen, because despite its limited size, i’ve never had any problem baking anything. it reinforces the idea that it doesn’t take anything fancy to produce delicious food that makes people happy. this is my old oven. modest, but never once let me down. thank you, old friend.

tollhouse chocolate chip cookies
lovingly copied from the toll house semisweet chocolate morsels bag

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz toll house semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1. combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

2. beat butter, both sugars and vanilla in a large bowl. add eggs, one at a time, beating well. gradually beat in flour mixture. stir in morsels.

3. spoon dough (about a Tbsp per cookie) onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes. i tend to go a little under 9 minutes so they come out just underdone. remove to cooling racks or eat immediately with a tall glass of cold milk.