classic chocolate chip cookies

let’s bake some cookies!

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Do you ever have a craving for the cookies you used to eat as a kid?  There’s so many kinds of cookies I’ve made recently:  small batch soft + chewy cookies, devil’s food pudding cookies, and even toffee crunch pudding cookies just to name a few.  While it’s always fun to create new recipes and test new flavors, sometimes I just want simple, classic, chocolate chip cookies.

As I’ve mentioned in some older posts, I’m really just in it for the dough.  But in my recent years, I’ve been able to get down with some cookies, too.  I wanted this recipe to reflect the simplicity of the classic chocolate cookies recipe, but there’s one touch of flavor that I’ve discovered in cookies, and I think it’s only going to enhance the classic taste : maple syrup.

I’m talking real maple syrup.  The kind at the Farmer’s Market that sells for $10 / pint, with a simple label printed straight from the farmer’s personal printer via 2010.  Pure maple syrup is so much richer than the imitation stuff, and it’s so worth keeping around for pancakes, waffles, or classic chocolate chip cookies. 🙂

Vanilla also makes a huge difference.  I’ve you’ve scrolled through various cookie recipes online, you’ve probably seen that most food bloggers are really into the quality of their vanilla.  Before I started blogging, I was like, “okay.  yeah.  Surely my stuff is just as good.”  Here’s a tip : it’s not.  Trust me.  If you want that decadent, robustly sweet, rich vanilla flavor, you need to get the good stuff.  Madagascar Vanilla Extract is an excellent option to start.

Other than the maple syrup and the vanilla, the rest of the ingredients are your basic pantry staples.  Flour, sugar, baking soda, cornstarch, brown sugar, egg, butter.  (Cornstarch helps keep the shape of the cookie when you don’t want to chill the dough for hours.)  There’s something so nostalgic about making cookies, and I want your end product to turn out amazing.  Every time.

If you haven’t tested your oven temperature, I do recommend doing that sooner than later.  We just moved into a new apartment, and after a couple of disastrous cookie-baking-episodes, I figured out my oven was ten degrees hotter than it read.  You can buy a relatively inexpensive oven thermometer on Amazon, and be the hero that lets your friends use it.  I promise it’s worth giving up a latte for a day to figure out how to make better baked goods!  

Keep an eye on your cookies, and take them out of the oven as the tops of them start to turn a gorgeous golden color.  They’ll continue baking on the hot cookie sheet, and you definitely do not want to overbake them.  (Unless you’re really into the crispy cookie thing.)  As the cookies cool, they’ll set in the middle and form a chewy, luscious center.  The edges are just a bit crispy, and the inside of the cookie are soft and warm.  Just like the old days. 🙂

Top your warm cookies with just a touch of gorgeous sea salt flakes. Chocolate and salt were meant to be best friends, in my opinion!  

I can’t wait for you to bake some classic chocolate chip cookies.  I really want to know how yours turn out!  If you are on Instagram, tag #aflavorjournal so I can see them!  And feel free to follow me on Instagram for more fun recipes.  And always feel free to reach out to me with any recipes you’d like for me to develop.  I’m in the middle of developing some blackened shrimp tacos for one of my Instagram followers right now, and I love the fact that I feel like I’m cooking for a new friend.

Cheers to you, and cheers to your classic chocolate chip cookies! 

Sara Rose

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