Chocolate Chip Cookies

By my last count—if you carry the one, divide by pi, and find the cosine of nine—there are a gazillion and two chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. Soft and chewy. Crunchy. With or without nuts. Dried fruits. Milk chocolate. Dark Chocolate. White chocolate. There’s something for everyone.

But at its base, it is just flour, sugar, eggs, butter, a little baking soda and vanilla, and chocolate chips. The original cookie recipe, not surprisingly, came from the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts back in 1938. The inn was known for its home cooking. After chopping up pieces of a Nestlé chocolate bar into the dough, the reign of Nestlé’s Toll House cookies took hold.

I find it amusing that my middle daughter destresses from her day at school by making chocolate chip cookies. (This, of course, means my waistline is suffering from the regular infusion of cookies cooling on the countertop.) There is a calming ritual to baking and cookies are certainly no exception to that. It’s also a nice pastime when the weather is chilly. A hot oven makes the whole house toasty—and smelling pretty chocolatey.

Here’s the recipe:

2 1/4 c. flour

2 sticks (1 c.) butter

2 large eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c. white sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 375F degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl. With the wet ingredients in another bowl, cream the butter and sugars together. Once incorporated, add eggs and vanilla. Gradually add the dry to the wet ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Add the chocolate chips last. Spoon out onto greased baking sheet and pop in the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.