Chocolate Chip Cookie - sm - © ihearteating.com

COVID-19 Baking: Cookies Are Even Quicker And Easier!

Having shared with you my prized family recipe for Banana Bread in yesterday’s post, I’m going to follow my sister’s advice and share another today. Erin suggested that some first-time bakers might not want to tackle Quick Breads just yet…

Chocolate Chip Cookie -lg - © ihearteating.com

There are probably millions of recipes online that start with, “Cream together the Butter and Sugar…” That’s the first thing you do when mixing up any kind of Cookie Dough.

With an emphasis on simple, I’m going to pass on what may be the easiest-ever recipe for one of the most beloved Cookies ever: Chocolate Chip.

What you need

1/2 cup / 125 ml Butter
1/2 cup / 125 ml White Sugar
1/4 cup / 60 ml Brown Sugar xxxx(packed)
2 tsp. / 10 ml Real Vanilla xxxxExtract
1 large Egg
1 3/4 cup / 425 ml AP Flour
1/2 tsp. / 2.5 ml Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. / 2.5 ml Salt
1 cup / 250 ml Semisweet xxxxChocolate Chips

Tips:

Don’t substitute Vegetable or Corn Oil for the Butter, unless you’re prepared to settle for a much less flavourful Cookie.

Use Real Vanilla Extract for best flavour. Artificial Vanilla Extract is a lot cheaper but some folks say it makes baked goods taste metallic. Yuk!

You can use Brown Sugar by itself for a darker, sweeter, more flavourful Cookie. I often make mine this way. Just omit the White Sugar and increase the Brown Sugar to 3/4 cup / 175 ml.

This recipe uses only Baking Soda – no Baking Powder. Yes, there is a difference; an important difference!

What you do

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Line a cookie sheet or sheet pan with parchment paper.

Melt the butter by microwaving for 30 to 40 seconds.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the Butter with the Sugars

In a smaller bowl, whisk together or beat with a fork, the Egg and Vanilla Extract until well incorporated with each other. Then add them to the Butter and Sugar mixture.

In another small bowl, whisk together or beat with a fork the remaining dry ingredients (Four, Baking Soda and Salt) to distribute the Salt and Soda evenly throughout the Four. Then add them to the wet ingredients.

Stir the Dough until all the Dry ingredients have been moistened with the wet ingredients. Don’t over mix, or you’ll get a hard, dry Cookie.

Fold in the Chocolate Chips until they are evenly distributed. Work quickly; don’t over mix.

Using a regular tableware spoon, scoop out rounded spoonfuls of Dough, roll them in your hands to make balls about an inch in diameter, and place at least 2 in. / 5 cm apart on the paper-lined baking tray.

Bake on the middle oven rack for 8 minutes. The cookies will be soft in the middle, but they’ll keep on cooking after you take them out of the oven, as they cool. The result will be chewy Cookies. Bake for 10 minutes if you want them a little crisper.

Don’t try to move or handle the Cookies until they are completely cooled. They’ll droop and fold up on you like a pocket watch in a Salvador Dali painting!

And that’s all there is to it

Tomorrow I think I’ll reprise some of my favourite family Cookie recipes from posts of the past. Stay tuned!

~ Maggie J.