Chocolate Chip Cookies and Variations

By Tamipri

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/4 c.+ 2 Tb. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 (12 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate morsels

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed with a heavy-duty mixer until creamy. Add eggs and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, beating until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until blended. Beat in morsels just until combined. Drop by Tb. onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove to wire racks, and cool completely (about 15 minutes).


Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Cookies: Prepare recipe as directed, beating in 2 c. coarsely crushed pretzel sticks with morsels.

Almond-Toffee Cookies: Stubstitute 6 (1.4 oz.) chopped chocolate-covered toffee candy bars and 1 1/2 c. toasted almond slivers for chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed.

Turtle Cookies: Substitute 1 (7 oz.) pkg. milk chocolate-caramel-pecan clusters, coarsely chopped, and 1 (12 oz.) pkg. dark chocolate morsels for semisweet chocolate morsels.

Nutty Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies: Decrease salt to 1/2 tsp. Decrease morsels to 1 (12 oz.) pkg. Add 1 c. creamy peanut butter with butter and sugars, and add 1 c. lightly salted peanuts with morsels. Increase flour to 2 1/2 c. + 2 Tb. Proceed as directed. (Dough will look a little moist.)