Big Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

By acampman

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or 12 oz good dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream the butter and sugar together in big bowl, using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer on high speed (or a sturdy wire whisk) until they are fluffy and light lemon yellow in color - about 5 minutes.

With the mixer on low speed, beat on the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Graduallt add this to wet ingredients using the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed (or stirring with a wooden spoon) until no flour is visible. Then stir in the chocolate chips.

To make big cookies, use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop out the dough. Roll the dough for each cookie between your hands into a ball. Have some flour handy to dust your hands in case the dough is too sticky to work with. Place the balls on your baking sheet leaving 2 inches between them, and flatten each with the heel of your hand until it is about 4 inches in diameter.

To make smaller cookies, use a teaspoon to scoop up the dough and your finger to scrape it onto the baking sheet. Drop the cookies 1 1/2 inches apart, no flattening necessary.

Place the baking sheet on the center rack in the oven, and bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes (10-12 for smaller) or until the cookie centers no longer have a shiny look of raw dough. Cool on rack.