I Love Chocolate: Chocolate Chip Cookie Secrets

Chocolate chip cookies are a wonderful treat for the entire family and really easy to make. The right ingredients can make the most of whichever recipe you prefer to use.

First, always stick with real butter. Margarine just doesn't work as well and it has trans fats. The real butter is in many ways better for you. It is definitely better for chocolate chip cookie recipes.

Butter should be melted carefully. Softening it at room temperature works well enough, but better is to melt it in a double broiler. Microwaves can do the job but are often too fast and may scald it instead. Melted butter dissolves the sugar better than merely creaming the two together.

Use real vanilla extract rather than artificial. The flavor is superior. You can also use more than most recipes call for. Feel free to experiment when in doubt.

In most cases, a semisweet or dark chocolate is your best choice for chocolate chips. Cookies are sweet enough on their own, so that milk chocolate chips just don't taste quite right.

Experiment with various recipes to figure out what best suits your preferences. Some people want their cookies to remain soft and chewy, while others would prefer crunchier cookies. There's no one right way to make chocolate chip cookies.

And of course that means you cannot forget to experiment with your recipes. Nuts or no nuts? How many chocolate chips to make the cookies just chocolatey enough? What about peanut butter chips? Big or little cookies?

Cooking time is key. Cook a recipe that should make chewy cookies too long, and you'll get crunchy or burned ones. As your cookies get close to done, make sure you are keeping a good eye on them. Soft cookies will often look a little underdone in comparison to what you see when you buy cookies.

Don't you worry. I won't leave you without one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes. This is for chewy chocolate chip cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease cookie sheets.

Stir flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, cream the melted butter, brown and white sugar together. Once these are well blended, add vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Beat until light and creamy. Mix in the bowl with the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir until all ingredients are blended. Add chocolate chips and mix.

Put the dough in the fridge for 30-45 minutes before spooning out. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto greased cookie sheets, leaving space between cookies (2-3 inches depending on size of dropped dough).

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges are lightly toasted. Cookies should be light brown when done.

About the Author:
Stephanie Foster runs www.gimmechocolate.com/ because she really, really loves chocolate. Take a look at her selection of gourmet chocolates for those days when you need more than cookies to satisfy your chocolate cravings.

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