The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

You may have noticed I've not been the-most-attentive blogger out there the last few months. Please allow me to explain myself. My husband and I moved into a new home, I am developing a cleanse for a yoga company, I am in a Yoga Therapy Certification Program through Loyola Marymount University, and I am still working teaching yoga. So though I love to blog, it kind of took a back seat for a while. The good news is that I've been cultivating lots of juicy morsels of yoga knowledge, recipes, tips, and tricks for all of you.

Speaking of tricks, Happy Halloween!!!!! I love Halloween. I'm all decked out right now waiting for my very first Trick or Treaters with my 'Rats Nest' hair and snake-infested legs.

In fact, I even made these for the occasion:

To get this recipe, follow this link.

And though I love Halloween, I do not love spiders. Not at all. Not even a little tiny bit. There was a really big nasty one with a red body and black hairy legs (are you getting the creeps even reading this?! Cause I'm getting them writing it....but I digress...) and my husband told me that I couldn't kill any spiders against our newly-painted 'Clunch' (off white) walls....so I was fretting about what to do when Jason, our interior designer's delivery man, showed up. Jason's my new hero. He shot the poor guy with water and then stepped on him.

(Side note: I'm sorry to all the spider-saviors I offend by killing them. Maybe some day I'll be a good enough yogini to rescue the dreadful things, but I am IN NO WAY there yet. Namaste.)

So, I thought that I should give Hero-Jason a treat and offered to bake him some cookies. He said he liked Chocolate Chip the best. I asked him, "Crispy or Chewy?" He likes chewy. (Really, do people exist who truly like the crunchy better? And not just to say they do like people say they really love the smell of patchouli?) So, I made these from Fine Cooking Magazine, February/March 2003 issue. They are perfect. I wouldn't change a thing. Enjoy!

Chewy Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Yields about 9 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies (I use the small ice cream scoop and it's perfect)

10 3/4 oz (1 1/3 C) unsalted butter, cold

1 1/2 C packed light brown sugar

1 C granulated sugar

2 large eggs, cold

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

17 oz (3 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Arrange oven racks in the upper and middle positions of the oven. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar, starting on low speed and gradually working your way up to high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes once you reach high speed. Scrape the bowl and beater. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on low until blended. Beat on high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add this to the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended; the dough will be stiff. Stir in the chocolate chips. (I cheat here and do it all on low in the mixer)

Drop rounded measuring teaspoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto two ungreased baking sheets. (Silpats or parchment works well). Refrigerate any unused dough. Bake until the bottoms are golden grown, 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through for even results. Remove the sheets from the oven, let sit for 3-5 minutes, and then transfer the cookies with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely. Let the baking sheets cool completely before baking the remaining dough.

Printable version here.