Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

The warm, inviting smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies is enough to make anyone smile. It brings memories of childhood, family gatherings, and that comforting moment when you sink your teeth into a warm, gooey treat. I'm so excited to share my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with you, inspired by the classic Nestle Toll House recipe but with a few delightful tweaks that take it to a whole new level.

Whether you're a baking pro or a novice, this recipe is straightforward and guarantees mouthwatering results every time. I love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and Pampered Chef cookie scooper, but a regular bowl and spoon will do the trick just the same. Use what you have in your kitchen today, put on your apron, and let’s get baking!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened grass-fed butter*

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

• 1/2 tbsp molasses

• 2 pasture raised eggs*

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. Combine your softened butter and sugar. Beat on medium high speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Add in your molasses, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low for 1 min.

4. On top of your wet ingredients, add your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly incorporate them into your dough so you don't have flour going everywhere.

5. Fold in your chocolate chips. You can do a combination of different kinds if you want. My favorite is to do a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate. It elevates the cookie that much more!

6. one your dough is made, scoop balls that are about 2 tbsp onto a cookie sheet

7. bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. You want the middle of the cookie looking underdone when you take them out of the oven

8. let cool on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Do not skip this step or your cookies will fall apart. they need this time to finish cooking. This will give you the golden brown bottom and a soft, delicious middle.

9. enjoy!

   
   

If you don't need to bake your full batch at once, you can do one of 2 things for fresh cookies with less effort next time:

1. scoop any unused cookie dough into 2 tbsp balls and put onto a plate that will fit in your freezer Freeze for about 30 min before transferring to a freezer safe container or bag. Once the balls have that 30 min, the outside will be frozen enough that when you put them into a bag or container they wont stick together. This is the best because the next time you want just one (or more) cookies, all you do is pop your balls onto a sheet and bake at 350°F for 10-11 min. Perfect for movie nights, prep ahead postpartum snacks, busy nights, or lazy afternoons.

2. you can bake all your cookies as you normally would after you prepare your cookie dough. After they are 100% cooled, you can add the cookies into a container or bag and just throw into your freezer. When you want a cookie, just set it out on the counter for about 10 min to thaw. This locks in all the freshness of a fresh baked cookie. Perfect for lunches on the go, meal prepping, or impromptu family gatherings. No one will know these were in your freezer!

*I believe if you use high quality ingredients, your cookies will taste high quality. Once you start baking with grass-fed butter and pasture raised eggs, you will never go back. The extra cost is very much worth it for the superior taste.