Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Approved by Teenagers

Want to find out about the best chocolate chip cookies ever? Now that I don’t have kids in school who want to impress their friends with their mom’s “secret-recipe” cookies anymore, I can tell you all about them!

To make my Teenager-Approved best chocolate chip cookies, just use the recipe on the Nestle package.

EXCEPT – there are some secret changes! These changes developed over years of cookie making. And although some were accidental, all were tried and tested. Not only by my kids, but by their neighborhood friends and school buddies too!

Warning:

What follows is not the complete recipe, just the secret parts! Be sure to get the actual recipe by clicking the button above or go to the Members Library. (If you’re not already a member, you can sign up when you get there. It’s free!)

Prepare Your Ingredients

First, about 20 minutes before you start making your cookies, pull your butter and egg out of the fridge to warm a little. I just set mine on the counter.

You want the egg to be not-cold, and you want the butter to be just barely soft, not melted at all. By the time you’ve mixed everything else and are ready for them, they’re usually just perfect.

The Secrets of the Chips

One of the secrets – actually three of the secrets – are about the chips. Instead of the usual semi-sweet, I use milk chocolate chips. And only 3/4 of the amount called for in the original recipe. The other 1/4 is white chocolate chips!

The third chip secret is to store them in the freezer. If they’re frozen when they go into the oven, they don’t melt down quite as much, so more chocolate goodness.

Nuts or Not

I also put in some chopped walnuts. If you don’t eat walnuts, just leave them out – they’re not critical. Or use another nut. That’ll change the flavor of the cookie, obviously, but hey – you can make up your own recipe. People have done it!

Save Yourself Cleaning Time Later

I don’t know if this really qualifies as a secret or not, but I always take off my rings before I mix up the cookie dough. I have a special little bowl our dear friends brought us back from one of their travels – Italy I think. That way I know my rings are safe while I’ve got dough all over my hands. And no time wasted later, trying to get the dough out with a vegetable brush or a toothpick!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Use More Flour

This is one of the main best chocolate chip cookie secrets. I put in more flour than the original recipe calls for. It wants 1 Cup and 2 Tablespoons. So I use heaping measures of both. See the picture above for how much extra to put in the cup.

And here’s how much extra to put in each of the tablespoons. It’s a little bit of art to the chocolate chip cookie science. It makes the cookies puffier and softer than the official recipe.

And Baking Powder

And the secret baking powder makes them VERY puffy! This, as you might imagine, came about because of an accident, many years ago. Instead of the baking soda one time, I put in baking powder instead. I figured I only got about half of it out of the bowl after I realized. But the cookies were the best I’d ever made, and the boys loved them! So now in addition to the soda, I always put in half the amount of powder too.

Mix ~ Mix ~ Mix

When I have all the dry ingredients in the bowl, I mix them all together with a wire whisk. I imagine it’s a little like a sifter, but not quite as sifty. It does mix the powdery things together very well though – much better than a spoon. No more spots of pure soda or anything any more!

Once the dry ingredients are all mixed together, I add the egg and the vanilla.

Vanilla!

Ah – vanilla! One of my favorite flavors in the entire world! I have two vanilla secrets too. The first is this particular brand. I’ve tried – oh – maybe about 8,745 varieties of vanilla over the years. And I’ve settled on three or four favorites that I use for different recipes. The Rodelle Gourmet makes for the BEST chocolate chip cookies! I get it at my local Kroger grocery, but if you can’t find it, click here.

The second vanilla secret is that I – once again – put in extra! I basically just hold the teaspoon over the bowl and pour in the vanilla until it overflows. A lot! I figure it’s about double what the recipe originally called for.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Sheets

The next secret is the cookie sheets. I use two, one nested inside the other. This keeps the bottoms of the cookies from burning. Or even from getting too dark. I love the texture of the cookie to be the same all the way through.

I get the sheets ready before I get my hands into the dough. That way I can just keep going making balls, instead of having to stop and wash my hands again to get the pans out.

Mixing By Hand

I use my hands to mix, which can sometimes warm the butter too much. So I go fast and stop when the dough holds together but is not quite totally smooth yet.

Then when you roll the balls, it finishes the mixing process.

Chill In The Fridge

Then put the entire cookie sheet in the fridge to chill for at least 10 minutes or so. After I put the first sheet in the fridge, I go ahead and roll the remaining balls. Just put them on another cookie sheet or pile them up on a regular plate. You can let them wait in the fridge until you’re ready to bake them.

Time To Bake

These best chocolate chip cookies take exactly 11 minutes in my oven. You’ll want to keep an eye on your first couple batches to see how long it’ll take in yours. As you might guess, I like mine to be just barely golden – no crispy edges and not too brown.

I let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before I move them to a cooling rack.

Time To Eat the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

As soon as they’re cool enough to hold, they’re ready to eat!

One of the High Points of My Chocolate Chip Cookie Life

So here’s a little story to illustrate how fabulous these cookies are. Back when I worked downtown, I had a parking space in the basement of a really fancy hotel. I would drive down off the street into a beautifully tiled basement – with curtains no less! It was the swankiest parking garage I’d ever seen!

Every morning when I got there, a handsome friendly young man would run up and open my car door. Another would say “Good morning Miss Leone!” And yet another would ask if I had anything he could carry to the elevator for me! In order to pay them back for making my day, I brought them chocolate chip cookies a lot.

One day when I pulled down the ramp, all three men were helping (read “fawning over,”) a VERY attractive young lady in a very sleek dress and a very nice sports car. However, as soon as they noticed my arrival, they abandoned her in a flash and rushed over to help me – and get their chocolate chip cookies! I felt like I was representing bakers everywhere on that red letter day!

But the critics I wanted to impress the most were my two boys and their friends. If you’re going to be proud of your mom for something, it might as well be because she makes the very best chocolate chip cookies ever!

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