Kylie’s friend, Jayda, loves my chocolate chip cookies! Kylie promised her that we’d send her a package of my cookies once she was settled into college. Jayda is in Colorado enjoying her university and today’s the day I thought I’d make her some cookies. Jayda calls me her second mom – so she can have all the cookies she wants. She is the sweetest, kindest, and most adorable girl. I’ve loved her since I met her when the kids were in junior high. They met in 7th grade and have been friends ever since.

I wanted to try something a little different with my cookies this time. All the ingredients are the same for Jayda’s “favorite” cookies, except one (I replaced baking soda with baking powder).  I heard that if you chill your cookie dough before baking, your cookies won’t fall as flat … so, after I mixed my cookie dough, I placed the bowl of dough in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to make sure it was nice and cold. I took the dough out of the refrigerator so I could load my cookie sheets with 12 cookies each. I immediately returned the bowl of dough to the refrigerator until I was ready to make the next batch. This worked really well.

I was also curious about how to make my cookies more “fluffy” so decided to use baking powder instead of baking salt. My sweet friend, Pam (who started the new marshmallow blog, A Tiny Taste of Heaven, http://www.atinytasteofheaven.com (I mentioned Pam last week, she’s a fabulous baker – and cook!) told me they would turn out puffier if I used the baking powder vs. baking soda. I knew Pam was the right person to ask, when I was contemplating this, she knows her baking quite well. Pam and I are talking about taking a baking class in November. We love to take classes at Sur La Table together … it’s so much fun!

This is how I made my chocolate chunk cookies: I first combined all-purpose flour, kosher salt and baking powder in a bowl and set it aside. Next, in the bowl of my electric mixer, I creamed together a Crisco butter flavored baking stick, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla. (Note: I like to use Crisco butter flavor baking sticks in place of butter. I’ve done it for years and prefer to use them. First off, they’re already soft. You don’t have to think about setting your butter out to soften before using it for baking.)

I then added two eggs and beat them in with the butter, sugars and vanilla. Next, I added the dry ingredients (slowly, so it didn’t look like a snow storm arrived in my kitchen) Once the dry ingredients were incorporated into the wet ingredients, I added 1 cup of chocolate chunks and 1 cup of chocolate chips.

I then set my mixing bowl directly into the refrigerator to make sure it was nice and cold before dropping my spoonfuls of dough onto the ungreased baking sheets.

I did make one little ball of cookie dough to keep unbaked for Dennis … he is a lover of raw cookie dough! Won’t he be surprised when he gets home from work today?

Let me just say, it was the best idea ever to use baking powder vs. baking soda. My cookies did turn out puffier … is puffier even a word? They are so darn good! I think I’m going to make this my basic recipe and add things as I choose. Sometimes, chocolate chips … sometimes, dried fruit. I think I could make several different cookies out of this dough recipe. Stay tuned, I’ll blog these cookies with other mix-ins periodically.

I’m really happy with the way these cookies turned out. Kylie said they are “great, delicious”! I do recommend replacing the baking soda with baking powder and keeping the dough cold. It was a definite win-win.

The cookies are crisp on the outside, yet moist on the inside.

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 cup Crisco Butter flavor Baking Sticks

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 eggs (I use Jumbo size eggs)

• 1 cup chocolate chunks (semi-sweet)

• 1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In bowl of an electric mixer, cream together Crisco butter stick, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla until creamy.
4. Add eggs and beat.
5. Add dry ingredients (slowly) and mix.
6. Stir in chocolate chunks and chocolate chips and.
7. Place dough in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
8. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet.
9. Bake for 12 minutes, checking after 10.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris