Ghirardelli's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

I freely admit, this is a pretty ordinary recipe for a pretty ordinary item (my only one of the week, I promise).  Who doesn't have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that they already use, and love?  And honestly, the recipe is almost exactly the same as Toll House chocolate chip cookies.  My reasons for making these cookies are purely selfish.

Yes, I did make some of them into Mickey's head.  I may have a problem.

My mom was a stay-at-home-mom and while she did and could cook and bake (and was really, really, really fantastic at it), I don't think she really liked to do it.  Unless it was Christmas or some other equally grand event, my mother wasn't a baker.  I totally get why...  Staying home with kids, it's exhausting, and baking is a needless stress.  It creates more to do or more that needs to be done and watching that oven is almost like having to watch another child.  Plus, we grew up in a house built in the 1830s, the kitchen was very small, there was no dishwasher, and the water for the house actually came via two artesian wells on our property, which meant that we could "run out" of water.  If that happened, somebody had to go outside, under the house, into a dirt crawlspace in the dark, and flip the switch to the backup well.  Since baking requires lots of dishes, and lots of dishes means lots to wash, we'd inevitably "run out" of water and mom would have to go under the house and switch over the wells.  On top of that, in the summer we had no air conditioning, so once it got hot from the oven, it was miserably hot all day with no relief beyond some expertly placed box fans.  So even though my mom was, and is, a great cook and baker (she's even a 4-H foods group leader and occasionally county judge...  Seriously, she knows her stuff), you can see that baking for the sake of baking is just more trouble then it was really worth in our house.

However, the big exception to this was chocolate chip cookies.  Going by my memory (which is never wrong), she'd make chocolate chip cookies almost on demand.  And even at the time, this was so special for us because, like I said, my mother didn't bake, but also because she actually had us make them with her.  Of everything I've ever made with and for my mom, of all the foods she's taught me about, of all the recipes she's given me, chocolate chip cookies are the thing I remember cooking with her first and the most often.  I can even picture the old, chipped, vaguely 1970's bowl we used to make them in and the Black and Decker (back when they did cooking appliances...  Maybe they still do?) egg beater.  And my brother and I were the perfect cookie-making duo.  I like chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven but that's really it.  Even with all the history that cookies have in our family, they're not my favorite cookie.  My brother, on the other hand, I'm constantly surprised they don't find chocolate chips in his blood when he goes to donate to the Red Cross.  However, I'm addicted to cookie dough, something my brother can't stand.  So I always got to lick the beaters, he got a majority of the cookies.  It was win/win.

Now that my son is 2 years old and he's showing a real love of the kitchen and cooking (he's quite the helper when you need to make tacos), I wanted to bring him into making chocolate chip cookies like I did with my mom.  Being the fan of all things cookie that he is, he took to the idea of making cookies like a fish to water.  Perhaps he's not the most accurate at adding the chocolate chips to the bowl, as is evidenced by my now dalmatian-like kitchen floor, but he had a blast.  Come to find out that he thinks turning on the KitchenAid is a thrill equal to riding Expedition Everest.  

Is it me or does this cookie look like a pirate?

Sorry I didn't take more pictures...  Cooking with a little guy while the oven preheating kept me pretty occupied.  But trust me, they came out just as every cookie should (I like mine crunchy so I bake them for a little longer) and fun was had by all. 

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Ghirardelli's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

As is served at Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, Downtown Disney

 

°o°  1 cup butter, slightly softened

°o°  3/4 cup sugar

°o°  3/4 cup brown sugar

°o°  2 eggs

°o°  2 teaspoons vanilla

°o°  2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
°o°  1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

°o°  1/2 teaspoon salt

°o°  1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
°o°  1 11-ounce bag of Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375.  

Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Gradually add flour, baking soda, and salt, until blended.  Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop one rounded tablespoon of dough per cookie onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 9 to 11 minutes.  Allow to set for about 1 minute on the pan before removing to a wire rack.

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