The best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever discovered is the one from the back of the Western Family bag of chocolate chips. It amazes me that the discount brand of chocolate chips was the most successful at discovering the best combination of fat, sugar, and chocolate. And yet, it is this recipe that is truly delicious.
I have made this recipe on many occasions. It is truly the best out there. I believe good things should be shared. So here it is for your baking pleasure!
Western Family Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 36 cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. butter/margarine (225 g)
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 t. vanilla
1 egg
chocolate chips (I put in as many as I want!)Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg. Beat well. Mix together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add them to the creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips. Mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons, 2″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes at 375 F (190 C).
The last time I made this recipe, the cookies were a dismal failure. It was a few weeks ago, right after we moved in to our new home. I didn’t have any of measuring spoons or measuring cups so I “estimated.” I didn’t know what the Celsius equivalent of 375 F was, so I guessed. I was wrong on that. I can’t remember if the oven was too hot or too cold, but it didn’t work out very well. I decided at the time that the oven just didn’t work. In the end, I had very crispy dough that just didn’t taste right.
Tonight I felt like eating my chocolate chip cookies. So I tried again. Now I have my measuring cups and spoons and I even checked to make sure that my oven temperature was the correct Celsius equivalent. I think my cookies turned out perfectly!
Try some yourself!
I’ve been virtuous about my diet every since I came home from vacation having gained nearly as many personal pounds as I did pounds of books. (Ok, so that is an exaggeration, but you get the idea.) Now you are tempting me to make cookies. Should I do it? After all, next week I have to go back to school, so this is my last big chance to be Suzy Homemaker. And my husband spent all that time translating the school newsletter into Spanish, so he deserves a treat. And I owe Bill and Cindy Kacak a treat for taking care of our flowers and pool. You have to admit, I am a master at justifying this. Cookies had never entered my mind until I read your blog. Then there was the picture. Now I am a lost soul! Mom
So, since you are no longer in Provo and don’t have access to the “Western Family” brand chocolate chips, how can you really say you’ve recreated the same chocolate chip cookies? And for that matter, you are at an entirely different altitude…The recipe was still just as good?
By the way, I forgot to mention that I know of a really great website that helps people learn the metric system! http://themetricsystem.info/
(Tee hee hee!)
I don’t think Western Family’s chocolate chips were what made their recipe so good. It was all in the fat and sugar and chocolate combination. As for altitude, I’ve never made any adjustments for it. Besides, the recipe says 10-15 minutes. No matter where you are, you watch and take out the cookies at the right moment.
I think I’ve already pointed out to Carl that his page lacks a good overview of cooking temperature learning. It’s good to know the boiling point of water and it may be OK to estimate when you’re roasting chicken or something, but when it comes to baking, you’ve got to have the right temperature. Guessing just doesn’t cut it. However, now that I have better understanding of Celsius equivalents, I may be able to “guess” a little better in the future!
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