The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

With a title like that, you've got to try them, right?

I must credit the great chefs over at Ghirardelli from whom I got this recipe.

My only suggestion for all you non-Ghirardelli folks out there is to substitute Crisco for half of the butter if you want a crispier-bottomed cookie. It keeps the cookies from spreading too far out as well. Don’t melt the Crisco though.

-2 ¼ C flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 tsp. salt
-2 sticks salted butter
-1 C white sugar
-1 C packed dark brown sugar
-2 tsp. vanilla extract
-2 large eggs
-1 bag Ghiradhelli chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

1. Mix the flour, soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, almost-melt (about half melted, the rest really squishy) the butter.
3. Add the sugars to the butter and stir well. Mash out all the brown sugar clumps, if any remain. To this, add the vanilla and eggs.
4. Stir it all up, and then add the dry ingredients bit by bit until all are incorporated. Or, if you’re an impatient baker like me, add all the dry at once and make a mess and curse like a sailor when you stir and flour goes everywhere. Then curse a little more, and do the hokey pokey.
5. Add the chocolate chips, eat some dough, and then bake on a light cookie sheet 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees farenheit. Keep a close eye on them; if you like them underdone, pull the cookies out when the edges just turn golden. Let cool on the sheet for fifteen minutes before putting on a plate or rack to cool completely.

Enjoy! The recipe makes 2-3 dozen big fat cookies, if you can keep yourself from eating the cookie dough. Which is also really good, I should add.