Harriet is a beloved friend of my mother's. Her daughters and the three of us kids grew up together. Chocolate chip cookies or popcorn cake/bars were standard fare at any gathering of parents and children. These cookies were such a treat for us because we grew up as children of someone who likes crisp cookies. I'm not saying it's wrong (Mom), I'm just saying I don't like crisp cookies.
Let's get started!
1 and 1/2 cups of butter...please don't use plastic, I mean margarine. The butter should be softened.
3 beautiful farm fresh eggs. Notice the dark yellow yolks even in the winter!
1 cup of brown sugar, packed into the measuring cup. Basically, you want as much sugar as the cup will hold leveled at the top.
1/2 cup of white sugar. If you're into exact measurements and dirtying dishes, get out your 1/2 cup measure. If you are a practitioner of eyeballing, use your 1 cup scoop and move on with life.
This is what it looks like at this point. You will now beat the heck out of the sugar, eggs and butter. The technical term is "cream" them.
Add the vanilla. 1 1/2 tsp please. Again, no teaspoons were dirtied in the addition of the vanilla.
Add 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda. You might think I eyeball everything, which is close. The one thing I don't eyeball is leavening agents (like baking powder, baking soda, yeast). Baked goods can go seriously wrong when leavening is eyeballed. Please use measuring instruments!
Sidenote: These are my grandma's measuring spoons. I use them daily and guard them with my life.
Now for the flour. Add 3 and 1/3 cups flour from your flour bin using your grandma's 2 cup flour sifter. Again, I eyeballed. And then I had to add some more flour to make the dough feel right.
And now, the secret ingredient....PUDDING! Three 3.4oz boxes of vanilla pudding adds a moist-ness and richness to the cookies.
Wanna hear something wild? If you want Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies, use chocolate pudding and a little cocoa!!
All the dry ingredients.
Mix thoroughly but not excessively.
Obtain chocolate chips from your secret stash. You know the one. The one you keep for emergencies. When it's just been one of those days and you need to eat them straight from the bag.
You're going to use 1 1/4 cups of chips. But (and this should come as no surprise) I don't measure them. Each 12oz bag of chips holds about 2 cups. Pinch the bag slightly below the halfway line. Dump them into the bowl. Enjoy the remaining 3/4 cup however you wish.
Mix only until the chocolate chips are fairly evenly distributed.
Get out your cookie scoop. I love my cookie scoop! (I also use it for meatballs but that's another recipe for another time.)
Nice, evenly shaped cookies comes from a cookie scoop.
Oh, there's one missing from the pan you say? Well, it just jumped into my mouth. I was helpless to stop it.
Bake them at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. And during those 8-10 minutes, watch your daughter feed chocolate chips to her rabbit.
Ahhhh, perfection!
They will be soft and chewy in the center and slightly crispy on the outside.
And you'll end up with bags of yummy cookies to share with your family, friends, or friends of your kids.
Make these cookies. Children everywhere will remember you fondly for them. Thanks Harriet!!!
They look GREAT, Annie. Can't wait to try them. Thanks for sharing! My personal favorite from this specific post . . . the sweet hand feeding chocolate chips to a well-loved rabbit!
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