chocolate chip cookies.

chewy, but slightly crisp on the edges. fat & thick, with gooey chocolate chips. the non-chocolate chip portions must also taste excellent. or else everything is ruined. EVERYTHING. non-uniform shapes. craggy edges & tops with ridges. almost slightly underbaked middle.

My ideal chocolate chip cookie. 

Okay, now that you know what I like (I have briefly gone over this before), I hope you can decide whether you want to follow this recipe or not. Of course you can continue to read my babblings, but if you are a die-hard lover of those thin, crispy chocolate chip cookies ... or cakey ones that are really puffy ... this is not the place where you will find your perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I have heard about the addition of vanilla pudding mix into chocolate chip cookie recipes, but then I read somewhere that it makes them softer. And possibly more cakey. Um no! I don't want anything cakey about my cookies. Maybe I'll try it one day, but not today.

I decreased the fat content quite a bit, with good results.

Oh actually, scary story.

The recipe called for 2 sticks butter. No, I was not about to use 1 cup of butter, so I changed it up.

I grabbed one stick of butter from the fridge. I mean, they are chocolate chip cookies, I am not trying to dramatically healthify them or anything. Then I had 2.5 random TB in the fridge, so I added that too. Then I used about 2 TB oil, 1 TB prune butter, & 1 TB strawberry kefir.

Why strawberry kefir? Uh. I had just opened a new bottle & was savoring the effervescent dairy drink while the machine was doing its thing. I thought I'd pour a little in for no reason whatsoever.

I made one perfectly round without trying! And another extremely
weird shaped without trying! Yay!

And then the scary happened. During the creaming process (fats & sugars), I smelled strawberry. I tasted it after it had creamed. Yes, I tasted pure butter and sugar for you guys, all for you guys. And believe me when I say it TASTED LIKE STRAWBERRY. I was scared. I was really scared.

It'll tone down when I add the eggs vanilla and flour, I thought. Yeah, that didn't happen. I mean, after the flour was added, there was still a slightly detectable taste & scent. So I added more vanilla. And chocolate chips. And thank god, the final product was fine.

But really, one tablespoon of strawberry kefir. One measly tablespoon nearly overpowered my batch of cookies. The nerve.

But then I got thinking about how maybe I could adapt a sugar cookie recipe into strawberry cookies, or something else like that ... so, the experience was scary or inspirational, you decide. 

Kay, here's the recipe, already.

Look at how many cookies less than 3 (HEART) cups of flour
will get you!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from here. I made all different sizes, but my batch yielded roughly 45 cookies. 

•  1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter (or do what I did (above) )  
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar 
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 tspn vanilla extract 
• 12 oz. (2 3/4 cups) flour (I used mostly white, some ww) 
• 1/2 tspn salt 
• 1 tspn baking soda 
• 1 1/2 tspn baking powder 
• 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheet(s). 
2. Stir the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda, & baking powder. 
3. Cream the butter & sugar for 3-5 minutes, until super fluffy. 
4. Add eggs & vanilla. Beat another 2 minutes. 
5. Add the dry mixture. Mix just to fully incorporate. 
6. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly distributed. 
7. Plop dough in desired sizes onto lightly greased baking sheet & baked about 10 minutes, till browned around the edges. Transfer to a rack to cool. Cool the baking sheets to at least touchable coolness to prevent dough from prematurely spreading before getting into the oven. 
8. Eat them warm. I endear you! Or maybe don't ... you will never stop.