How to Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies from scratch

Chocolate chip cookies are a delicious comfort food.

Ruth Wakefield accidentally invented chocolate chip cookies when she broke off pieces from a bar of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate and mixed them with her cookie dough. She thought the chocolate would blend with the dough to make a chocolate cookie. However, they retained their consistency as chips while baking in the oven. Her guests at her bed-and-breakfast, the Toll House Inn, loved them so much that Mrs. Wakefield made a second batch. Throughout America, one-half of all cookies baked at home today are chocolate chips. You can bake chocolate chip cookies easily from scratch.

Things You'll Need

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 sticks butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 2/3 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Sift the baking soda and salt with the flour.

3. Put the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy.

4. Add vanilla extract. Stir until combined.

5. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat on high speed until completely mixed with the batter.

6. Mix in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time.

7. Add chocolate chips, and if desired, chopped nuts. Stir them into the batter with a spoon rather than the mixer, so they will keep their consistency.

8. Drop dough on cookie sheet, one tablespoonful for each cookie. Alternately, you can bake a large birthday cookie by evenly spreading the entire batch of dough on a large cookie sheet. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy transfer to a large dish or pastry board for decorating.

9. Bake individual cookies from nine to 11 minutes. A large birthday cookie may take a few minutes longer until it reaches a light golden brown.

10. Remove cookies from oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet for two to three minutes until they firm up a little. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

11. Decorate with icing, if desired, after the birthday cookie has completely cooled.

Tips & Warnings

• Sifting flour adds air to the batter, resulting in light cookies and cakes.

References

• Food History: The History of Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Kitchen Savvy: Sifting Flour

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Read this Article in Spanish