C is for Chocolate Chip Cookie

Heaven help me, this is in the other room. Just a few yards away.

Close enough that the aroma in here is strong. But that picture needs to be the same when Ray gets home.

It's important to always have cookies in this house, storebought or homemade. They are the easiest sweet treat to grab on the way through the kitchen, the perfect dessert to stash in a lunchbox, and ideal for presentation to unexpected guests. I'm too neurotic for many unexpected guests, but I do need to cover the lunchbox and the drive-by snacker that I live with.

When we run out of packaged ones (Pepperidge Farm Milanos and Strawberry Veronas, Oreos, and Chips Ahoy are lunchbox favorites) and I don't want to buy more, I bring out the unsalted butter and eggs to sit on the counter for a couple hours.

A few puffs of flour and a sink of baking utensils later, and I have a kitchen that smells divine and a test to my iron will. Yes I am a lady with a baby, but dammit I still try to stick to my "dessert on weekends only" rule!

The problem is that it's Monday and these cookies may not make it that long.

And like I said I'm a lady with a baby and nobody's watching- I don't know if I could stop at just one! For posterity, I made 24 cookies, there should be 24 cookies here!

These chocolate chip cookies are so very easy, chewy in texture and well-studded with a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips. I'm not fancy with the shaping of my drop cookies- that's part of their beauty, just drop in a ball on the sheet and let the oven shape the rest.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 24 large cookies

2 cups plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbs) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips (or one or the other)

Adjust the oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions, and heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until smooth and well blended. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat the egg, yolk, and vanilla into the butter-sugar mixture until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients slowly at low speed until just combined, scraping down the sides again. Add the chips and let the mixer turn twice before turning off and stirring by hand the rest of the way to blend in the chips.

With two big tablespoons, drop largish balls of dough onto the lined baking sheets, twelve per sheet. [I usually make smaller cookies but today I was going big. To make them smaller, use teaspoons.]

Bake, switching the baking sheet positions halfway through, for 20 minutes until just golden brown. Let cool for 3-5 minutes before moving the parchment paper to cooling racks. When completely cool, peel the cookies from the parchment paper.

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