THE family cookie recipe ... yes chocolate chip!

Heat oven to 350.

Everything goes in to one large mixing bowl.

• 1 stick of sweet cream salted butter (at room temperature)

whip it with a big fork 'till fluffy

• 1 Tablespoon (C uses less but that's not a typo) Authentic MEXICO VANILLA

whip it in to the butter

• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar (packed!)

whip both in to butter till smooth

• one egg (use the best eggs you can find)

cream the egg in to the butter sugar mixture

• 1-1/2 cups of flour
• 1 scant teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

put the flour on top of the sugary ingredients, then the soda and salt

"fork" the dry ingredients together

before combining all together by hand (with that same big fork)

• 1 cup chocolate chips (or pieces) or combination or substitution of M&M's, toffee brittle, white morsels, peanut butter chips, whatever you prefer.
• 1 cup of nuts - I love to use pecans, but salted macadamia nuts are great as are cashews!

combine all, spoon out cookies on to an ungreased cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes.  As soon as you can smell them they are probably done.  Cool and enjoy!

~makes 26 pretty big cookies~

Subtle variations to your cookie recipe can make the difference between a thin and crispy cookie versus a soft a chewy one.

Brown Sugar.  Use a high ratio of brown sugar to white sugar.  Instead of using one cup of white sugar, try 3/4 cups of brown sugar combined with 1/2 cups of white sugar.  What makes sugar brown?  It is molasses.  Molasses loves moisture (a chewy cookie's best friend).  

Shortening.  Use shortening over butter.  Shortening melts at a higher temperature than butter, giving the batter time to rise and retain moisture.   If you want to retain the butter flavor, use butter-flavored shortening.  Alternatively, you can split the difference (use half butter and half shortening).

Eggs Yolks.  Add an egg yolk to the recipe.  Egg whites dry out quickly when baked, causing you to lose needed the needed moisture for your chewy cookie .

Baking Powder.  Use baking powder over baking soda.  The cookie will spread less, since powder is more acidic than soda.  The thinner the cookie, the greater the moisture loss.

I like thin and crispy cookies.
Adding "extra" vanilla makes my batter slightly less dense.