Chewy chocolate & peanut butter chip cookies

You may have noticed I am not a big cookie baker. Cookies are fickle, they never seem to turn out exactly the way I want them to or expect them to. Cookies are time consuming, with all those different batches to prepare and cool and I just don't have enough of it these days. I had a big bag of chocolate and peanut butter chips that I bought in NY hanging out in my cupboard, patiently waiting, but I was just not inspired and did not want to begin the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, the endless search it seems every blogger starts at some point in his/her blogging history. Should  I use the NY Times Torres recipe or the Toll House recipe? What chocolate is best? How long should I chill the dough?

 And then I saw the recipe for Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies posted just the other day by Sing for your Supper and the photographs were so enticing I just couldn't resist, I had to try it. Oh my, those pictures...

I made a batch of larger ones and a batch of smaller ones. The result was great, I finally baked a wonderfully chewy chocolate chip cookie.

But...

There is always a 'but' when  baking cookies, something that needs to be changed or improved. Despite my cookies being good enuogh to become a staple household recipe, they looked nothing like the cookies in the pictures. Where were those fat, chunky cookies? Those pictures will haunt me until I succeed.

  

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 salt

1 cup butter (melted and cooled)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cups chips

Preheat oven to 325°F and line cookie trays.

Combine and sift flour, baking soda and salt.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a separate bowl. Then add in the vanilla, the egg, the yolk and mix until light and creamy. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just belended. Stir in the chips by hand. At this point I chilled the dough for about 24 hours, because I had to pick the kids up from school and because I had read this ensures chewiness. The following day I put the cookies about 3 inches apart on the trays and made a few larger batches and a few smaller ones. I baked the larger ones for about 15-17 minutes as suggested. I baked the smaller batches for approximately 10 minutes. Let them cool on tray and then cookies rack. 

I don't know if the variations in sugar amounts (I used packed brown sugar and normal brown sugar and less white sugar than called for because I was at the end of all three packs) or the chilling were the culprits of my not-as-chunky cookies. But they were scrumptuous anyway.

Oh, by the way, I was in such a rush to go out and enjoy my day to myself on Friday (which I did, although once again 99% of my shopping was kid-oriented...why is that?) that I didn't realize I was publishing my 100th post. Have I actually made 100 different recipes in the past months? Did I actually write 100 hundred stories about my cooking adventures and life? I just wanted to thank you all for sticking around and joining in on the fun, for reading, for commenting, for supporting me.