A Chocolate Chip Cookie (dough ball style)

What’s in a chocolate chip cookie? Well, all good chocolate chip cookies start with fresh butter and sugar creamed to a mixture of silken perfection, which is then combined with flour (and other dry ingredients) and heavenly bits of chocolate to make that famous (or infamous) speckled dough. Yes, I can taste the sweetness of both white and brown sugars and the soft, chewy center of butter and flour, but there is always something more to a chocolate chip cookie. There is that hint of comfort that warms your belly after that first bite. There is an ounce of care rolled into each little dough ball that bakes to full blown love with the heat of the oven. Even as a little girl, the process of baking and eating chocolate chip cookies was one associated with excitement, relaxation and a kitchen full of pure joy. Whenever I can’t decide what to bake, I remember the feeling of a good chocolate chip cookie. It is my go-to cookie for a gathering with friends, an evening with my family, or just an afternoon by myself. So, naturally, when I arrived home for spring break (I’m not good at the whole tropical vacation party thing), I decided to comfort myself with a batch of chocolate chip cookies. The sound of the busy mixer cleared my mind of the stresses of papers and exams. Gently folding in the chocolate chips released the tension of taking notes. The smell of baking dough brought me back to a time of youthful serenity that only an afternoon in my home kitchen and a batch of chocolate chip cookies can accomplish.

The recipe I chose was one I found while perusing blogs. I have a "soft" spot for chewy cookies, so when I found the chocolate chip cookie dough balls from The Chic Life , I had to try them. As long as the dough was refrigerated and not baked too long, the cookies came out as thick, doughy balls, cooked on the outside and still gooey on the inside. The cookies maintained their pale color with just a little brown on the bottom. I brought them to my friends to share while we were catching up about college stuff, and they were definitely a hit.

                                             

                                     Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (from The Chic Life)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp (I used benecol and they came out just fine)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ( did a 1/4 chocolate chips and 1/4 toffee bits)
• ( I added 3 tbs. of unsweetend, dried cocount for flavor and texture)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
3. In a medium bowl, mix sugars and butter till creamy. (I used a handheld mixer, but you could probably just use a whisk). Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined.
4. Mix wet into the dry.
5. Gently fold chocolate chips into the dough, without overmixing.
6. Refrigerate dough for at least 20 minutes before using a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Roll each mound into a ball and spread evenly on a baking sheet, leaving roughly 2-3 inches between each ball.
7. Bake balls for 10-14 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. If you use egg, and you’re paranoid like me, you can use a meat thermometer to ensure the centers of the balls are at least 160 degrees F, which many web sites say is the safe temp to eat eggs.
8. Let your dough balls rest on the baking sheet to cool at least 5-10 minutes.

(I accidently had to double the recipe because I put too much benecol in the first batch and they still came out fine (miraculously))