Everyone's favorite cookie

Ask anyone to name a type of cookie and chances are they will say “Chocolate Chip.” Accidentally invented by a harried cook who didn’t have time to melt the chocolate to make her favorite chocolate cookies, these yummy morsels have been a national favorite since the recipe was first published in 1936.

I make some of the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. In fact, I almost cannot eat anyone else’s cookies. They’re often tiny, anemic, hard, dry, under-baked, burned, and/or greasy. They are simply no match for the big chewy sweet bites of heaven that come out of my oven.

People ask for the recipe all the time. I tell them “Back of the bag” and it’s true. The secret to a perfect chocolate chip cookie is NOT the recipe. Like all things baked, the secret is in the process.

Here’s how it is done.

To begin, here’s the recipe from the bag:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts [I recommend 2 cups, not chopped]

Tools

First, let’s talk about tools. You will need a good quality kitchen mixer. It is possible to make chocolate chip cookies with a small electric hand mixer, but it is a lot of work and you won’t get ideal results. As far as making them by hand, I wouldn’t attempt that unless you have a couple of strong boys around the house who really want the arm exercise.

You will also need a second mixing bowl for the dry ingredients.

Your oven can be either gas or electric, but it must be accurate. As modern timers are highly reliable, under baking and over baking is most often caused by baking at the wrong temperature. If you are unsure of your oven, you can place a small oven thermometer inside and check the temperature. You are looking for 375 F.

Good baking sheets are critical to the process. There are a number of gimmick baking sheets on the market (air-bake or whatever). Avoid them. Also avoid those thin, flimsy baking sheets they sell at the grocery store. What you want is a couple of heavy-duty baking sheets that will really spread the heat.

Preheat the oven to give the temperature time to stabilize, and place the rack in the center so that the heat will flow around the cookies evenly.

Ingredients

Let’s talk about the ingredients next. Do not attempt to substitute anything for the butter. Good quality fresh creamery butter is the backbone of this recipe. It will be easier to work with if it is closer to room temperature, but it will warm up as you mix it and you don’t want your batter to get too soft so keep it on the cool side. I use mine straight out of the refrigerator, but I have a killer mixer that is not phased by rock-hard butter.

Use a good quality of pure vanilla extract. After all, vanilla is a flavoring and you want the best flavor you can get. Stay away from vanillin or other cheap or artificial substitutes.

As for the brown sugar, I like to use the medium brown rather than the light brown sugar. It gives the cookies a more rounded taste and a better color.

Now we come to the subject of nuts. Walnuts will give your cookies a crisp nutty flavor and texture, but I don’t think they are a match for the warm richness of pecans. Also, I think the recipe is a little stingy on nuts so I always double the quantity to 2 cups. While you are at it, use halves and pieces of nuts rather than chopping them. This makes the cookies more interesting; they are lumpy and each bite is a little different, ranging from chocolaty to nutty to butterscotchy.

Also, store your nuts in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container. Nuts contain oils which can quickly oxidize at room temperature and spoil the flavor. Plus, when we add the nuts to our batter, we will be counting on them to cool it down a bit for better dough handling and better performance of the chocolate.

Method

OK, ready? Let’s begin.

The secret to good baking is to create an emulsion; a very uniform and thoroughly mixed batter. Let’s start with the dry ingredients. Put the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl (not your mixing bowl). Then, mix them together thoroughly by hand with a whisk or fork until they are uniformly blended. You don’t want to come across a lump of soda or salt when you are mixing this into your thick dough later.

Now, start blending the other ingredients. Place the butter into your mixing bowl and beat it until it is soft and uniform. Add the white and brown sugar and beat some more until it is all thoroughly mixed. Next, add the eggs. More beating, this time until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix it in well.

We are ready to add the dry ingredients from the other bowl. Pour them in, a quarter at a time, mixing well after each addition. You want to mix the dough so that it is thoroughly blended, but not so much that you beat all of the nice fluffiness out of the eggs.

When the dough is done, it is time to mix in the chocolate chips and nuts (which, as I mentioned before, I like to keep chilled) Also, I like to add two cups instead of just one. Add them all at once and just stir until blended. Don’t mix it too hard, or they will break up in the batter.

Using a tablespoon, arrange lumps of cookie dough onto the baking sheet so they have room to spread out and bake. The original recipe says “rounded tablespoons” of batter. My lumps are about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake your sheets of cookies one at a time to maintain good air circulation. Plus, this way you can work on one cookie sheet while the other is baking.

Set the timer for 13 minutes. When you take out one cookie sheet, you can put the other one in immediately (before the oven cools off). Place the hot cookie sheet somewhere it can cool (not on top of the oven).

Your cookies, when they come out, should be ALMOST completely baked, but they may still be a tiny bit translucent in the center. Because the cookie sheet is still hot, they will continue to bake as long at they are on the sheet. I generally give them a minute, then using a pancake turner, move the cookies off the sheet onto a brown paper bag or wire rack to cool.

After the cookie sheet has had a chance to cool, you can start putting the dough on it for the next batch of cookies.

Generally, I keep my finished cookies in the refrigerator or freezer so they stay nice and fresh. (It may sound unusual, but a frozen chocolate chip cookie is thoroughly delightful.)

If you followed these instructions to the letter, you are now the proud owner of a few dozen of the best chocolate chip cookies you have ever eaten. I hope you enjoy them as much as my friends and I do!

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Popovers

Popovers are an AMAZING treat that, for some reason, aren’t as popular in this country as they are in England. These big puffy balls, crispy on the outside and just a little bit custardy on the inside, are really quite easy to prepare and make a dramatic breakfast treat.

Because they are basically a souffle, they must be served just-out-of-the-oven, traditionally with orange or strawberry butter.

To make them, you will need 8 or 12 small oven-proof ramekins, a baking sheet to set them on, a mixer, and non-stick spray coating (Pam).

Glass Ramekins

Ingredients:

6 whole Eggs

2 c Milk

6 T Butter, melted

2 c Flour

1 tsp Salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Thoroughly grease 12 6-ounce ramekins. Set them on a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet.
3. Beat eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on medium until frothy. Mix in butter, then milk.
4. Beat in flour at low speed.
5. Fill ramekins 2/3 full. Place on tray in oven. Bake for 50 minutes.
6. Serve warm with orange or strawberry butter.

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Perfect for breakfast

Fresh blueberry muffins are a yummy treat that that isn’t really that hard to make.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

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2. Classic 1960′s Granola
3. Popovers