Advert your eyes if you don't want a new chocolate chip cookie recipe!   My hunt is over for the (my) perfect chocolate chip cookie!

If you've been around here for long, you know that I tend to adore homemade sweets.  Fudge Cookie Bars are one of my favorite cookies.  They are a perfectly delicious bar cookie.  You can't go wrong with them, especially since it makes such a large batch.  No-bake cookies are another win-win favorite with almost immediate gratification in a delicious cookie.

At the same time, I've always been on a hunt for a perfect chocolate chip cookie.  On my search, I've tried many recipes.  A couple years ago I did find a great recipe, but it called for instant pudding.  However, I didn't really make it much because I was still looking for the perfect, traditional chocolate chip cookie.  The hunt is over!!
A few months back I had invited a friend over.  (This is the same friend who gave me the Cinnamon Scones recipe!)  She brought the BEST chocolate chip cookies I had ever had.  Seriously.  Of course, I asked for the recipe.  She explained it was the Nestle recipe with rounded cups of flour.  Since then, I have been working on how properly measure (spooned into the measuring cup and leveled with a knife) the flour so it would be the same outcome each time.  (I also increased the baking soda a tad bit!) The recipe is below with standard measurements since your heaping cup and mine may not be the same.

Now I know that you may not prefer chocolate chip cookies the same way I do.  I prefer my chocolate chip cookies with some bulk to them.  Thick.  Chewy.  That is what these cookies are!

Nearly every time I share these cookies with a friend, I am asked for the recipe. They are truly delicious!

(On a side note, my dear husband is rather smitten with his mom's chocolate chip cookies, which are also based on the Nestle recipe.  However, he has said that this is his favorite of MY chocolate chip cookies.  I definitely agree...and over the past (almost) ten years of marriage, I have made a lot of chocolate chip cookies that were only okay to him!  I made these twice in a two week period and no one complained about the monotony of our desserts.  Nor did they last long in the freezer.)
My Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
       (Alternately titled THE Best Chocolate Chip Cookie EVER...but that sounds rather proud, and I know we do not all have the same preferences!)

1 cup butter, softened (Not too soft though. Leave the butter on the counter for 30 minutes.)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
 1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips  

Mix flour, soda, and salt together.  Set aside.  Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla together until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time until well-blended.  Mix in about half of the flour mixture.  (Cover mixer with a towel to keep "flour dust" from flying all over your kitchen.)  Slowly add the remaining flour.  Then stir in chips.  (I prefer using only 1 cup of chips. Seriously, try it with just one cup. If you hate them, then you could add up to two cups, but I think you might be surprised at the perfection of one cup.)

Drop by a rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper or an ungreased cookie sheet. (You can do a rounded teaspoon, but I think the larger cookies have a better consistency.)  Leave a lot of space between cookies.  These are also very good when baked into even larger cookies!

Bake at 375° for 9-11 minutes.  The edges should be barely golden for a very soft cookie, and browner for a crisper cookie.  (The pictures above are of two different batches.  The top batch is a smaller cookie and a bit browner than the bottom picture of very large cookies, barely browned. If you make smaller, teaspoon-sized cookies, bake for 6-8 minutes.)

Cool for 2 minutes and then move to wire rack. Because these cookies are a bit larger than the standard teaspoon, the recipe will only make a bit more than two dozen cookies, depending on size of your cookies.

Enjoy!

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}