It’s been a very long time, about 9 months, since I last posted. I am sorry, but I do have a good excuse for my absence. So much has happened during this time, and the big news is that almost 4 months ago I delivered a healthy baby girl. Lately I’ve missed the blog a lot and my intention is to get back to it and post as much as I can given my very busy halal-mama-of-five life.
You may not be very excited about another chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I am. I did not grow up eating and baking cookies of any kind. We are cake people. You crave something in the afternoon, you bake a cake and brew some coffee to have with it. However, since I have five kids and live in this country, I feel I should learn how to make cookies for bake sales and classroom parties. I had never, until now, made satisfactory chocolate chip cookies. For some reason they would always turn out very thin and crispy.
With Ramadan coming early this year, I feel pressed to learn fast some good cookie recipes to have some around for that time. I decided to start with a basic one by Dorie Greenspan as I have always been lucky with her recipes. Sure enough, it is a winner. So, here it is for you. Hope you come back soon to check new recipes that I am looking forward to sharing. As always, I would very much appreciate hearing from you here or via email, which I promise to go back to checking frequently again.
My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
From "Baking From my Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan
The original recipe has 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans which I omitted because of my children’s allergies, but go ahead and add if you’d like. I also didn’t have unsalted butter so I used salted butter and didn’t add any salt. According to the recipe, the dough can be covered and refrigerated for about 3 days. Or you can freeze rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, ready for baking. When you are ready to bake there is no need to defrost, just simply add another minute or two to the baking time.
Makes about 40 cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 tsp alcohol free vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.
On a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes until well blended. Beat in vanilla.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mix in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.
Spoon the dough onto baking sheets using a tablespoon, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.
Bake one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes rotating the sheet at the midway point. Take the sheet from the oven and let cookies rest for a couple of minutes until you transfer them to racks to cool using a wide metal spatula. Repeat with the remainder of the dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.