Audrey’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted these cookies.  I was in high school and on the dance team.  As a fundraiser, we were working at the local firework stand.  A fellow teammate (and good friend!) was visited by her mother, who came bearing chocolate chip cookies…

They were the best I had ever (and STILL have ever) tasted.

You can make or break a batch of cookies, simply by how you mix them together.  I hope these tips help every cookie recipe you make even better!

First, bring all of your ingredients to room temperature, like butter and eggs.  Here’s what you will need for Audrey’s Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Cream together the butter, shortening…

And sugars.  This mixture will become very light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla.  Mix these in really well.

Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Add these to the bowl, and mix just until blended.  Do NOT overmix here!  In fact, since I’m stirring in chocolate chips by hand after this, I usually undermix it slightly.

Add the chocolate chips and stir it by hand just until they are blended in.

I like to use a medium cookie scoop to make the cookies uniform in size.  They also bake more evenly.  Plus, it’s a lot less messy.  Get one.  You’ll love it!

Bake the cookies until they reach your desired outcome.  I like chewy, soft cookies, so I take them out of the oven when they look slightly doughy.  If you like crisp, crunchy cookies, wait until they look done, then remove them.

Leave the cookies on the pan for about 2 minutes or so.  Then, remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This recipe makes a lot… usually about 4 1/2 dozen with the cookie scoop I use.  But we can’t eat that many cookies before they get stale, so here’s a tip:  Freeze the dough.  Don’t even bake the cookies.  Just roll the dough into balls and freeze.  This allows you to bake as many cookies as you desire, whenever you want!  Just take them out of the freezer, place on a cookie sheet, and bake!  You don’t even need to defrost them.  They will take slightly longer to bake, but they will taste as if you just mixed together the dough.  Write on the bag what type of cookie they are, and the temperature and time for baking.  It’s a huge timesaver!

Of course you could always just make a half-batch to begin with, but it sure it handy to be able to just bake a few when the mood strikes!