This is the starting point of my cookie recipe taken from the Mrs. Fields website:
"Mrs. Fields" recipe:
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 twelve-ounce bags semisweet chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. With your fingers, place golf ball-sized dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 9-10 minutes or just until edges are light brown.
It's my version of the delicious Mrs. Fields cookies that are crispy around the edge and chewy in the middle. Be careful not to cook these too long. I know it becomes tempting to keep cooking these because they don't seem to be done after 10 minutes, but they will continue to cook for awhile after you take them out of the oven, and when cool, will be nice and chewy.
Authentic recipe:
Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium bowl combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with wire whisk. Set aside. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until just blended. Do not overmix. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips, and blend at low speed until just mixed. (Again, do not overmix.)
Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto an un-greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake low and slow for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a baking rack or cool surface.
After much tweaking and experimentation, mine now is:
5 cups white wheat flour
3 cups brown sugar (use light brown, and dark brown, don't notice any difference)
1/4 cup white sugar (basically just to say yes, there's some sugar in it)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons vanilla (imitation or extract, seems about the same)
4 eggs
4 sticks salt-free butter (have tried 2 and 3 stick versions, but at least once someone marvelled over my use of real butter so settled on 4)
2 23oz bags of Toll-House chocolate chips. Use semi-sweet and milk chocolate variations. The milk chocolate ones smellconsiderably different but taste pretty much the same to me. Maybe a foody would have a preference.
Bake at 350-375F (dial on the oven's old so who knows what the real temp is heh.)
Bake about 12 mins then check, because I'm baking them to give away I usually error on the side of caution and overbake them a bit rather than taking them out and trusting they bake a little more. If not done (with no soft or moist looking part keep baking until done.)
Cool until rigid then distribute.
