My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

My love affair with chocolate chip cookies began many years ago with a bag of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips and a major sweet tooth. That classic recipe on the back of their trademark yellow bag was my first baking memory and will always hold a special place in my heart, but since then my tastes have matured. My favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes have fluctuated over the years; from this recipe on Crepes of Wrath (which I somehow made famous in a small town in northern Italy thanks to my son, Nick, and group of foreign exchange students), to the infamous Neiman Marcus recipe to the sensational (and much blogged about) New York Times Recipe. There is definitely a time and place for each of those recipes in my baking repertoire, but my current favorite recipe is one I found on Pinterest from Marin Mama Cooks. Normally I will experiment and tweak recipes or develop my own, but I left this recipe untouched. In my opinion, it is absolutely perfect.

The secret to this recipe? Browned Butter. This is a trick I use in several cookie, dessert and frosting recipes. If you have never used Browned Butter in your baking, I encourage you to give it a try. Browning the butter gives it a nutty, slightly caramel flavor. You will definitely taste the difference (don't believe me? Taste the dough, ah-may-zing). The other secret, using good quality Chocolate Chips (sorry Nestle). In this recipe I like to use Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. They are larger in size than regular chocolate chips which creates puddles of melted, chocolatey goodness in these cookies.

If you are looking for an amazing, classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, this is the one for you!

Here's the link to the recipe of Marin Mama Cooks.....

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

And here are a few photos to get you inspired....

A few tips I found helpful after baking these cookies many, many, many times:

1. Please use the Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chips. They are slightly more expensive but well worth it.

2. Use good quality, real vanilla extract. Never use imitation.

3. Don't substitute Light Brown Sugar for the Dark Brown Sugar. The Dark Brown Sugar helps with the color, texture and flavor of these cookies.

4. Be sure to follow the recipe instructions for whisking the eggs into the sugar/butter mixture. This process requires some patience but if you don't follow these instructions and your butter is too warm when you bake the cookies, your cookies will be flat.

5. I refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes before baking. I've even made the dough ahead of time and kept it in the fridge overnight before baking the next day.

6. My favorite baking sheets for cookies are the light colored insulated baking sheets. They ensure even baking and prevent over browning on the bottoms before the tops are done. I've had mine for many years and they bake perfect cookies.