The ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Quest

TaDa! A Blog is born! I am planning to post about my sometimes disastrous kitchen episodes and my love of photography. I hope to combine the two into an interesting Blog. So I will start with episode one: Chocolate chip Cookies.

I have been dreaming about chocolate chip cookies. Not just any cookie, but the perfect cookie. So, I am starting my search today. When I bite into this cookie, I want the center to be a little chewy and full of oozy chocolate. I have had one before, but cannot remember where it came from. So, I am going to bake cookie recipes until I find it. I plan to make the Famous Nieman Marcus Recipes-both versions and any others that I can scrounge up that seem appealing. Also, I recently purchased the Ebelskiver pan from Williams Sonoma and will post about my success or lack there of about it. But for now let's get back to the cookies. Today I baked the Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookies on the back of chocolate chip bag. I made only one change and that was to melt the butter before adding the sugars. I had read that this produces a more chewy cookie. Oh, also I did not use nuts because Im not a big fan of nuts in my cookies. The recipe is as follows:

Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour 2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda 2 large eggs

1/2 tsp salt 2 cups Ghiradelli Semi Sweet

Chocolat chips

1 cup butter, softened 1 cup chopped walnuts or

1 cup sugar pecans (optional)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

Preheat oven to 375F. Stir flour with baking soda, and salt; set aside. In large mixer bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, mix on low speed until incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if used). Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. (If you melt the butter, the creaming process is a breeze. I actually did not have to use my mixer at all. I even used a spoon to add the dry ingredients. I will post pictures of the finished cookies later today as well as my results.