Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These truly are the best chocolate chip cookies that I have made yet! They are from Cook's Illustrated and are very popular all over the internet and on other blogs. If you like your chocolate chip cookies to resemble and taste like those scrumptious high-quality bakery cookies you see and taste, then these are definetly the ones to try! They are everything the title says they are; very big, soft and super chewy in the center and studded with lots of yummy chocolate chips. They are delicious and look and taste absolutely perfect! One of my dad's co-workers said they were the best chocolate chip cookies he has ever had.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: (Cook's Illustrated)

-2 1/8 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled

-1 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-1 large egg

-1 large egg yolk

-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-1-2 cups chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper-and-lower-middle posistions. Mix flour, salt, baking soda together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix just until combined. Stir in chips.

3. Form 1/4 cup dough into ball (or use a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop, which works perfect) and bake, reversing cookie sheets' posistions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15-18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). Coo cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container. 

***They have intricate instructions for forming the dough before you bake them.....I have tried making the cookies both ways, with a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop and with their instructions and they seem to come out the same but, if you want to try forming them here are the directions!***

Form 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie. being careful not to smooth dough's uneven surface. Bake as directed above.