Every Tuesday I will be serving up a yummy new recipe to share with all of you.  Besides my love of photography, I have a major love affair with food. Like all good infatuations, mine with food is all encompassing. I love reading cookbooks, the sound of bacon cooking, tasting a perfectly ripe peach, licking melted chocolate from my fingers and of course talking about food. Yep, I am proud to call myself a food geek, although I did happen to marry a bigger food geek then myself. He is also an awesome cook. Yes, I am a lucky lady. What better way to kick off this adventure is to start with a classic…. The chocolate chip cookie. And if the opinion of a 5 year old counts, ” Mama this is awesome, I mean an AWESOME cookie”

The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie- Yes it is Awesome!

Makes about 18 Large Cookies unless you sneak a little dough (don’t worry, I won’t tell).

{Preheat oven to 325 and position rack to the top third position and line a baking sheet with parchment or use nonstick }

2     Cups plus 3 level tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2    teaspoon baking soda

1/2    teaspoon salt

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

1     cup packed fresh dark brown sugar (gives it the nice rich color)

1/3     cup granulated sugar

1    large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2    teaspoons vanilla extract

1   cup chopped walnuts

1 3/4- 2    cups semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1-   Place flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl whisk until combined; set aside.

Step 2-   With a mixer ( or by hand ) mix the butter and both brown and granulated sugar until blended. Beat in the egg, along with yolk and vanilla until combined.

Step 3-     Add the dry ingredients in to mixer and beat on low until combined. Stir in nuts and chips by hand.

Step 4-    Scoop out a 1/4 cup of dough and roll into a ball. Hold with both hands and rip in 2 equal halves. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and rejoin the halves, leaving rough side up. Place them on your prepared cookie sheet with about 2 1/2 inch spacing between them.

Step 5-     Bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet half way through. Make sure to not over bake. The outer edges should just be hardening with the center still puffy and soft and an overall golden brown color. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them with a spatula to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

Have a wonderfully yummy week,

Olivia