Vanilla-Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, I do already have a favorite chocolate chip cookie. But when my mom visited me over about a month ago, she brought me a huge, costco-sized bottle of vanilla extract...so what was I going to do? Find recipes that call for a LOT of vanilla.

And I found this recipe.

So I tried it, despite already having a favorite CCC. My favorite didn't change, but these are definitely a good one to try! They aren't as big but they're very flavorful. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. They were also very easy to make! If you want a new CCC recipe to try, these are easy and tasty to make!

Vanilla-Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe by My Tasty Treasures
Found on Ice Cream Before Dinner

3¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1⅓ cups butter, softened
1¼ cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars in large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons (I used a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until barely beginning to brown at the edges. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Happy Halloween!!
Sorry I've been neglecting this blog! School & lack of ingredients happened...I have this recipe which was super easy to find the ingredients for. It was pretty good, pretty basic, everybody likes chocolate chip cookies and everybody likes bars, so it was good. Plus, I got to use not only the new pan my mom sent me (I now can bake recipes in a 9x13 pan!! instead of using 2 9-inch rounds, heh), but I also got to use the fall-themed sprinkles. I wasn't sure how they'd turn out on the bars, so I only sprinkled them on half (I didn't use the sea salt suggested in the recipe) but obviously could definitely have put sprinkles on the whole batch.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
Sea salt, for sprinkling over bars-optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Sprinkle cookie bars very lightly with sea salt, if desired. Bake cookie bars for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

My New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my first CCC recipe I'm posting. I used to only make the original Toll House recipe, and then found a great recipe that I thought would be my favorite, and then I decided I wanted to find a crispy chocolate chip cookie recipe and found this. Although not crisy entirely, it's crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside...and oh my god, this is the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever made. EVER.

After the first bite I thought I was dreaming. And then got scared that I would end up eating the entire batch (all 15 monstrous cookies), but remembered that they had to go somewhere (to my friends...) so that I couldn't eat anymore. Good excuse. Plus, honestly, this cookie filled me up. Just one cookie...albeit the size of 3 or 4...so good. I honeslty don't want to find out the nutritional value of these suckers.

I didn't have any cake flour so I substituted with 1/8 cup cornstarch + 7/8 cup AP flour.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from My Madison Bistro

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325*F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and position oven racks in the middle of oven.

Sift together dry ingredients into a small bowl. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and sugars, and stir with a wooden spoon until mixed. Add the egg and yolk and stir until well mixed. Add vanilla, stir to combine.

Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, stir until just a trace of flour remains. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine. Using a large spoon, mound about 1/3 c of dough (these are large cookies) onto the baking sheet, about six cookies per sheet.

Bake for 16-19 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cool for five minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack.

Congo Bars

I've been making a lot of bars lately. I made these for my younger brother, who left for a couple of days to visit a college--his first time away from home alone. I really didn't want to eat one because I wasn't feeling very good, but the instant reactions from my family (first my brother, who freaked out because it was so good, then my dad who agreed, then my mom who finally tried it and was all "THIS IS SO GOOD THIS IS THE BEST EVER" which is really good coming from her) I had to try and I agree, they are very good! I had no problem with this recipe and it was very easy. I left out the walnuts and let them cool for about 20-30 minutes before cutting them. Warm, they were delicious. I bet they'd still be AMAZING at room temperature, too, which I wanted to try but had to resist.

I'm definitely going to be making these when I get back to college. I'm pretty sure that two of my favorite people would absolutely love these!

Not sure who keeps up with my blog--but does anyone have anything they want me to try baking? Or any ideas? I have an endless amount of recipes that I want to try, but I guess I'd like some input on what you might want to see. I am definitely trying to take advantage of being at home and having all of my mom's baking utensils, and supplies are only a 5 minute car drive away instead of a 15 minute or more bus ride.

Congo Bars
Recipe from bakerella

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.