Chocolate Chip Cookies: America's Fuel

Chocolate Chip CookiesThis is my very favorite type of cookie and my favorite cookie recipe of all time. I have made countless batches, but my most memorable ones are the ones I made on the first day of the new school year. I had a cookie tradition that I hope my children and their friends will remember.  Every year on the first day of school the kids were greeted with cookies as they stepped in the door. We sat down to share our "cookie chat" about the first day during the first few hours of the big day. I have so many fond memories of home made "first day" cookies. I regret not taking pictures of them sitting around the table with big glasses of milk and a plate of warm cookies.
The tradition started when Matt entered kindergarten. I had made these cookies and when he came home he called them his "first day of school cookies".  On that  day in September of 1986, I decided that I would bake cookies on the first day of every school year to mark this huge yearly event.   Even if it was 100+ degrees outside, I made the cookies to welcome home my children and a new school year. It was very bittersweet the year I baked cookies when Allison was a senior. I remember thinking that I wouldn't have anyone to bake for the following year, and I ended a 19 year tradition of first day cookies.
Whenever I make this recipe I think of the wonderful times shared around the table on the first day, and how lucky I am to share them with three great children.

All-time Best Cookies (or First Day Cookies)

Serves: A lot
It makes A LOT of cookies, but every bite is worth the enormous amount of calories that come along with the sugar and vanilla. You may have to run a few extra miles during your workout, but enjoy every step after eating these yumm-o's.

One pound of butter (yup, use the real stuff)
One box of light or dark brown sugar, your preference. I usually use light
1.5 cups of white sugar
2 tablespoons of vanilla
3 Eggs
Cream all the above ingredients together.

Add slowly:
5.5 cups of flour
1.5 teaspoons for soda
1.5 teaspoons of salt
Batter will be thick and simply lovely for taste testing.

Then add:
2 bags or 4 cups of semi-sweet chips (the new bags are smaller now, 11 ounces instead of 12, so I would add the full amount so that you have plenty of the rich chocolate goodness in each bite)
Optional: 2.5 cups of chopped nuts

Very important: Use a Silpat! These are wonderful baking sheets that allow ease in removing your cookies. One of the best investments you will ever make. There is no need to grease the sheet, the Silpat is a wonder. There are many brands of baking sheets, I have tried them all. For the most part they are all excellent.

Drop cookies using an ice cream scoop, you will get uniform shaped cookies.

Bake at 275 degrees for 18-20 minutes (the secret, this is why they are so soft and good-slow baking)

Cool slightly before removing from Silpat. They are really best warm with a large glass of cold milk. Bakeries believe that cookies should be eaten within 4-6 hours of taking them out of the oven. That is a big task with this large amount of dough, but they are still good the next day.