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Although I love cupcakes and have started a cupcake business, city girl cupcakes, I truly love to bake.  Anything with a combination of sugar, butter and flour is fair game.  Add coconut, chocolate chips, nuts and fruit and watch out...I'm probably in the kitchen with my mixer whirring!!

I also enjoy writing, so this blog is a great opportunity for me to share my favorite things with you.  Today's entry is about chocolate chip cookies!

Over my lifetime of baking, I have tried many, many chocolate chip cookie recipes.  The cookies that get the highest "rating" for me must have a mix of sweet and salt, crunch and chew.  My daughter and I judge our cupcakes on guessing how many glasses of milk you would need with each one.  I believe a good chocolate chip cookie needs at least one glass of cold, cold milk by its side.

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.  She is a wonderful cook and an equally wonderful baker and I am totally in love with her chocolate chip cookies.

Two basic differences in her recipes over others are the following.  One, she always uses extra large eggs.  On a recent Barefoot Contessa TV episode (you can catch her on the Food Network), I heard her say that she became a better baker when she started using extra large eggs.  Mmmm...I may have to try that one!  And two, she uses kosher salt.  This one little change adds the hit of salt that I look for in something sweet.  It's fantastic.

So, here is her recipe and at the bottom is a link for her cookbook containing the original.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes 36 to 40 Cookies

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined.  Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chunks.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch-diameter ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon.  Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly.  Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone).  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe comes from Ina Garten's book, Barefoot Contessa Parties!  Be sure to try the chocolate batter version.  I use chocolate chunks instead of white chocolate and add walnuts.  It tastes just like a brownie...so yummy.

I hope you find things in your life that make you happy and are easy to accomplish.  Making chocolate chip cookies is one of those things for me.  It fills my kitchen with activity and my house with wonderful, warm aromas.  What could be better?

Have a great Sunday!  I'm off to have coffee with family visiting me from Florida.  Because Ina loves all things French, I think I'm going to indulge in a chocolate croissant.  I'll have to channel her energy and bake something later this afternoon!