Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

...with milk, of course!

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet/pan.  In another area of this same blog, I write about my supply of parchment paper--  it's right here:  http://milkmaidrecipebox.blogspot.com/search?q=parchment+paper

I dump all of the following ingredients into my Kitchen Aid stand mixer (in the order given).  Because of the simple way I put these together, and with the oven pre-heating from the start, I can have a batch of these cookies mixed and baked in about 25 minutes (or less?):

1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups light brown sugar, packed  (sometimes, I use the dark variety)
1 ½ cups room temperature unsalted butter (3 sticks)
....mix the above until light and FLUFFY, and then add:

3 large eggs, added one at a time
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon salt (regular table salt)  You may decrease this amount by 1/2                               teaspoon IF you use salted butter.
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
...mix the above combination until blended very well.  Then, add:

1 of 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
...it might sound odd, and you surely don't have to do this, but I add the chips to the above BEFORE I add the flour.  That way, some of the chips end up in the bottom of the bowl on my stand mixer.  The chips then act as "the bottom-of-the-bowl scraper" as the paddle goes round 'n round after I add the flour.   Next, add:

5 ½ cups all-purpose flour
...with the mixer turned on, I add this four in 1-cup increments until all is in.  Continue mixing this only until flour is incorporated...

I get about 4 dozen large cookies from this batch when I form them like this:

Using a 2" (2" across) cookie scoop (cookie baller?), I fill it full and level off the top of it on the edge of the bowl.  Release "the ball of dough" on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Then, just before putting them into the oven,  I only slightly flatten their top.  

I remove these cookies from the oven when they have a VERY  slight tint of brown to them -- 13/14 minutes?  The cookies will continue to 'bake' for a while on their hot pans after coming out of the oven.   (Ovens vary, so see what works best with yours.)

History:  Back in 1986, when I was in Utah to give my daughter a hand for two weeks following the birth of her first child, I found this recipe in a cookbook but I surely don't know which one.  What I do know is that we have liked this recipe ever since!