Chocolate Chip Cookies

Google Reader is one of my favorite things; I check it at least once a day to bookmark new recipes to try. The Way the Cookie Crumbles is a good blog to follow, and I have made a few recipes from there. I stumbled upon this cookie post and just the pictures made me want to try this recipe. I got some good tips from the blog post, but this is originally from Kait's Plate.

They are the perfect cookie for me, thin and slightly crisp on the ends, but gooey on the inside. I really would have eaten all 42 of these that the recipe made, so I went ahead and froze about half of the dough for baking up later.  I also used the method of freezing the dough in balls on the baking sheet, and then baking in the oven for 10 minutes. This yielded a good cookie shape and made sure the batter didn't run all over the place.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Kait's Plate)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

(I used 4oz Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate, chopped plus 4 oz white chocolate chips and 4 oz mini semi sweet chips)
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional) or pecans (optional)


Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well-blended. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts. (The dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen. If you'd like, you can freeze rounded tablespoons of dough, ready for baking. Freeze the mounds on a lined baking sheet, then bag them when they're solid. There's no need to defrost the dough before baking - just add another minute or two to the baking time.)

Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls.

Bake the cookies - one sheet at a time and rotating the sheet at the midway point - for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the center; they may still be a little soft in the middle, and that's just fine. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

The cooking can be kept in a cookie jar or sealed container for about four days, or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to two months. For Freezing the dough, I just froze on a plate in individual sizes, then transferred to a freezer ziplock.