Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These little chewy chocolate chip cookies are perfect for snacking and milk dipping. Plus the base dough can be used for 5 different type of cookies!

Hi again!  It’s Faith from Thought 4 Food.  I hope you all liked the strawberry cheesecake ice cream.  😉  I’ve made another sweet treat that I hope Brandy and all of you like…

I don’t know many people who don’t love chocolate chip cookies.  I’ve tried many recipes in my day looking for the perfect one.  Most of the chocolate chip cookies I’ve made came out too cakey or too flat or too sweet or went stale too fast, etc.  Finally, I thought about using honey, which does a great job of keeping baked goods moist and fresh.  My wait for the perfect chocolate chip cookie is over.  These cookies are chewy and moist, and they stay that way for about five days.

The best part about these cookies is that the dough is a great base for not only chocolate chip cookies, but pretty much any cookies you can think of.  Here are some of my favorite variations:

• Oatmeal Scotch Chippers:  Reduce the AP flour to 2 c; omit the chocolate chips; add 1 ½ c rolled oats, 2 c butterscotch chips, and 1 c chopped walnuts or pecans.
• White Chocolate Cherry Macadamias:  Omit the chocolate chips; add 1 c of each of the following:  white chocolate chips, dried cherries, and macadamia nuts.
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:  Reduce the AP flour to 2 c; omit the chocolate chips; add 1 ½ c rolled oats, 1 c raisins, 1 c chopped walnuts or pecans, and 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
• Double Chocolate Cookies:  Reduce the AP flour to 2 c; add ½ c of cocoa powder.
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies:  Use milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet chips; add 1 c of peanut butter chips.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These little chewy chocolate chip cookies are perfect for snacking and milk dipping. Plus the base dough can be used for 5 different type of cookies!

Yield: 30 medium size cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes + 1-2 hours freezing time

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 3 - 4 hours

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup no-trans fat vegetable shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

(You can also add a cup of your favorite nuts; walnuts, hazelnuts, and pecans are some of my favorites for this)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream together the butter, shortening, sugar, honey, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet, then stir in the chocolate chips (the dough will be fairly sticky). Use wax paper to roll the dough into two equal logs and freeze them for 1-2 hours (they shouldn’t be frozen solid; the dough should be firmly set but you should still able to cut it easily with a knife).

Once the dough is semi-frozen, unwrap the wax paper and cut each log into 15 rounds (each will be about 3/4 inches thick). Line them up 1-2 inches apart on a baking sheet (ungreased) and bake for 14 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through. They cookies are ready to come out of the oven when they’re light golden but still a touch doughy in the middle (they’ll continue cooking on the baking sheets, even out of the oven). Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets before removing. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.