A Few More Favorite Things

Happy Monday and Happy Spring Break!
Today is the first day of my son's spring break, and we've been having a good time. We started off by sleeping in a bit, pancakes for breakfast, Star Wars Angry Birds on the iPad, coloring on a huge piece of butcher paper, backyard fun, lunch, chocolate chip cookies, bath-time, and now nap-time! Whew! I thought I'd use this little break and write about a few of my favorite things.
As I mentioned in my last post, chocolate and butter make the top of my list, so it seems only right that I share with you my very favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and a few of the supplies I love to use when baking cookies.
1. I LOVE having large cookie sheets to bake on. I have 4 of these baking sheets and I bought them at Sam's Club. They are perfect for cookies and can also be used for sheet cakes because they have a 1 inch lip all the way around.

2. Parchment Paper is a must-have in my kitchen! Have you tried it? There are a couple of different brands available here and I like them equally. Parchment paper helps cookies to brown evenly, but what I love most about it is that it keeps me from having to clean my cookie sheets!

3. Cookie scoops are my BFF. I use both of the scoops shown in the picture below on a frequent basis. The larger is perfect for big, fat chocolate chip cookies. The smaller is just right for, well, smaller cookies. Rocket science, right? Anyway, these scoops are from Pampered Chef, and they are great. Scooping your cookie dough helps the cookies to be uniform in size and to bake evenly.

4. I really like having a cooling rack for my cookies and cakes. This cooling rack, also from Pampered Chef, is a great kitchen tool. After allowing the cookies to set for a minute or two, I remove them to the cooling rack, then I'm ready to scoop more dough onto my parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.

And, last but certainly not least, is my very favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!!!
INGREDIENTS:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla (I used homemade vanilla extract, another one of my favorite things!)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup 60 % dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a metal mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together both sugars and melted butter. Add the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk and beat to combine. Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Add in the chocolate chips until just combined. Using your cookie scoop, drop even scoops of dough onto your cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. When I use my larger scoop, it takes every bit of 15 minutes for my cookies to bake. Remove from oven and let cookies set for 1 minute, then remove to a cooling rack. Eat and Enjoy!
~Jennifer