Care Package #9: Best EVER Cookies!

When I was young, Mom used to make what I thought was the best chocolate chip cookies. I remember being a very small child and helping her stir the chocolate and peanut butter chips into the batter. The best part, however, was scooping the batter onto the cookie sheets, mainly because I always ended up eating a good portion of the batter! I have some friends who were never allowed to eat cookie dough (raw eggs and such) but we always nibbled while baking and I managed to survive.



It wasn't until I went off to college that I started to experiment with the recipe. Mom's cookies always came out very crunchy. They were perfect for dipping in milk or even hot tea on a cold day, but I really liked cakey cookies that could be eaten without having to dip. By adjusting the amount of flour, baking time, type of cookie sheet, chilling the dough before baking, and even replacing Crisco with butter, I was able to bake a super-yummy cookie that was soft and chewy, but could still be dunked if desired. I also discovered that the dough freezes well, which allows me to make a big batch of dough, but spread out the baking over a few weeks. There's nothing like coming home and tossing a few frozen dough balls into the toaster oven and enjoying warm cookies on a cold night! This batch for Brian came out PERFECT and I had to vacuum seal them as soon as they cooled to keep from eating them all up myself!

Mom's Best Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/3 C softened butter
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
3 – 3 ½ C flour
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 C peanut butter chips

With a hand mixer, blend together softened butter with sugars. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla and baking soda, mix again. Add one cup of flour at a time and stir well with a wooden spoon until dough is slightly tacky and holds together well. Stir in chips and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Pre-heat over to 350°. Scoop teaspoon-sized balls of dough onto a cookie sheet, leaving at least one inch between each scoop. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If you have good will power, the cookies will keep in an air tight container for about 10 days. If you want to freeze some of the dough, slightly flatten the teaspoon-sized ball of dough before freezing and bake for a wee-little bit longer.