Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

My all time favorite, easy to make, cookie! And, who hasn't made a batch of these cookies at least once in their cooking lives? Chocolate chips were invented in 1933 by Ruth Graves Wakefield. She added chunks of semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate bar to a cookie recipe and they were a huge success. She reached an agreement with Nestlé to add her recipe to the chocolate bar's packaging in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate! Nestlé only started selling the chocolate chip form in 1939. Before then the chocolate was packaged in bars which included a small chopping tool.

Makes about 9 dozen cookies
recipe from Fine Cooking

1 1/3 cups unsalted butter, cold
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, cold
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Arrange oven racks in the upper and middle positions of the oven. Heat the oven to 375f. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter and sugars starting on low speed and gradually working your way up to high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy (3 min.). Scrape the bowl and beater. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on low until blended. Beat on high until light and fluffy about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl and beater.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt and baking soda. Add this to the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended; the dough will be stiff. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop rounded teaspoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet. Refrigerate any unused dough. Bake until the bottoms are golden brown, 8-10 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway for even results. Remove baking sheet from the oven and let sit for 3-5 minutes and then transfer the cookies with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.

The Culinary Chase's Note: Let the baking sheets cool completely before baking the remaining dough. Just remember that the temperature of the eggs and butter help control how the dough spreads in the oven. Cool ingredients make the dough spread slowly, producing a denser, chewier cookie. Warm dough spreads more quickly and thus making the cookies thinner and crisper.