Basic Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Hey everyone.. I wanted to send a few friends some foodie sort of gift. So I made a small batch of chocolate-chip cookies.

Fig.1. Basic Chocolate-Chip Cookies

What do you make when you have to parcel a food-gift to family or friends in other cities? At such times one has to rely on courier and postal delivery services which may take anything from 2-15 days to be delivered. This means the item has to be non-perishable. It has to be really dry so it doesn't harbor fungus, mold or germs while sitting in hot weather in the back of a truck or store-rooms. It has to be tough/firm so it doesn't break inside the package. Are there other concerns I am missing here..? Oh, how about it should taste decent.. :D

Cookies are my standard backup for such times. They can be made reasonably dry, so they stand the trial of time. So far the chocolate-chips have never actually melted. And the cookies have almost never broken or crumbled if packaged even modestly well..

This recipe is from the Betty Crocker website. If you follow instructions strictly, I would say you should check out the original recipe. I had found this recipe long back and have been making it whenever in need of basic cookies. I make variations in terms of different types of chips, nuts, etc flavoring the cookies. Here I will detail my version, which is roughly half of the recipe listed on the website. I have also included the changes I make having read some suggestions in their comments sections to make them softer.

Ingredients:
Butter - 3/4 cup, softened. I have used low-fat spreads and substitutes and they are not too bad at all.
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 3/4 cup (increased this and decreased sugar, makes cookies a bit softer)
Egg - 1 large
All purpose flour - 2 cups (approximately)
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tablespoon
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon (they use baking soda.. I use baking powder, it works out fine for me though strictly speaking they are not the same thing).
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Chocolate-chips and/or other assorted additions like chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, broken pieces of pretzels, raisins, bitter chocolate-chips, toffee bits, etc etc the list is endless ~ 2 cups total. 

Procedure: 
A. If you want to make all plain chocolate chip cookies:
1) Mix softened butter (not melted), sugar, brown sugar, vanilla essence, egg, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2) Add the flour slowly, mixing well. 
3) Add chocolate-chips to this dough. Stir well. The cookie dough is now ready. 

B. I like to make plain chocolate-chip cookies from half of this batch and chocolate chocolate-chip cookies from the other half of the batch.
I like to use chocolate-chips - 1 cup and
Other assorted additions like chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, broken pieces of pretzels, raisins, bitter chocolate-chips, toffee bits, etc ~ 1 cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 3 or 4 table spoons.
1) Mix softened butter (not melted), sugar, brown sugar, vanilla essence, egg, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2) Divide the mixture above into two bowls.
3) To one half add one cup of flour and then chocolate chips to get plain chocolate-chip cookie dough.
4) To the other half add about 3-4 table spoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Add flour (~1 cup minus 3 or 4 tablespoons) to this mixture. Mix well. Add the chocolate chips and/or all other assorted chips and nuts to get chocolate chocolate-chip cookies.

Now the above mixture can be shaped into rough rounds on a cookie sheet lined with greased-foil or parchment paper and baked at 350 deg F for 12-15 minutes (recommended). I usually test at 10 or 11 minutes. Press the center and see if you can still see a finger print. Over baking makes the cookies hard.

That's that! I love to make these cookies and freeze the cookie dough as backup dessert. Lasts for months!

I am sending this post to the weekly Bake-off event at Versatile Kitchen.

Thanks for reading! Cheers and happy baking everyone!