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The Practically Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Source of Recipe

Consumer Reports


Recipe Introduction

This recipe was developed by Consumer Reports, known for their high standards. Here are their prefacing remarks: "We wanted a cookie with a chewy interior, crunchy edges, and well-blended flavor. Above all, we wanted a cookie with a high overall chocolate impact to give a sensuous rush to the chocoholic. After much experimentation and perhaps a few cumulative inches to staffers' waistlines, we created a cookie with all those assets."

List of Ingredients

2-1/4 cups flour
1 level teaspoon baking soda
1 level teaspoon salt
3/4 cup each white and packed dark brown sugar
2 sticks (1/2 pound) sweet butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12-ounce package Nestle semisweet chocolate chips




Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Use a stand-type electric mixer to mix the two sugars briefly at low speed. Add the butter in small gobbets, mixing first at low speed and then at high.

Beat the mixture until it's pale, light, and very fluffy. Add the vanilla at the mixer's lowest speed, then beat at high speed for a few seconds. Add the eggs, again at the lowest speed, switching to high speed for the final second or so.

The eggs should be well beaten in, and the mix should look creamed, not curdled. Add the flour mixture, a half cup at a time, mixing at low speed for about one minute, then at high speed for a few seconds.

Scrape down the bowl's sides with a spatula, add the chocolate chips, and mix at low speed for about 10 seconds. If need be, scrape the bowl's sides again and mix for a few more seconds.

Put tablespoons of the mix on an ungreased cookie sheet.


Bake until the cookies are pale golden brown (nine minutes in an electric oven, 10 to 11 minutes in a gas one).

Remove and let cool on a rack.

YIELD: 3 1/2 Dozen