in an ongoing effort to save money to buy a house in seattle, my husband and i have been hosting potluck dinners every sunday with six of our close friends. we switch off making the main dish, side dish, and dessert. every couple also gets a week off of cooking and just brings the wine for the evening. we’re all huge madmen fans, so the dessert is usually consumed around the television while don draper makes us all swoon. (well, most of us anyway) it was erik’s turn for dessert this week and he made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies! he baked them at my house so i got to witness all the baking tricks. like i’ve mentioned before, i’m self-taught in the baking department, so learning new techniques is always appreciated. erik was kind enough to share his recipe and i made a batch yesterday so you can see all the steps and tricks. the dough stores wonderfully in the fridge so you can have fresh baked cookies whenever you’re in the mood. if you’re anything like my husband, that translates to right now!chocolate chip cookies (makes 2 dozen large cookies)
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tbsp. (stick and a half) butter, melted and cooled to just warm
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I use golden brown, but any will work)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*
fresh grated nutmeg*
3/4 cup white chocolate chips*
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
heat oven to 325 degrees and place one rack at the upper middle position and one at the lower middle. whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. combine melted butter and sugars by hand or in the bowl of an electric mixer and blend until well incorporated. beat in the egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time until completely mixed. fold in the chocolate chips making sure their all through the dough. cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. you can keep the dough in the fridge over-night as well.
roll about 1/4 cup balls of dough with your hands and place on a parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet (or sprayed with non-stick spray) about 2 inches apart from each other. place cookie sheet in the oven on the lower rack and bake for 10 minutes. remove cookie sheet, turn so front is now back, and place on the upper rack. bake another 6 to 8 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly browned around the edges. (i started out on the middle rack and just turned my cookie sheet and they came out perfect) remove and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet. don’t burn your mouth when you dig in.
*you can omit the cinnamon and nutmeg, but they are a wonderful addition to this cookie. if you’re not a white chocolate fan, by all means use all milk or semi-sweet chips.i feel like now i can live out my fantasy of being the mom with the best chocolate chip cookie recipe… thanks erik. now i’ve just got to remember to always have gum in my purse and i’m all set!
celery carrots and onions 
You can also roll all of the dough into balls and freeze them in freezer bags so you can bake off one or two at a time (which is what I end up doing.) Directly from the freezer, you just adjust cooking time by a couple of minutes. Also, I would recommend not using the cinnamon and nutmeg if you're not using white + milk chocolate. I find that those flavors don't compliment semi-sweet chocolate chips.
thanks for all the tips erik. i agree with everything you said. i've made these cookies twice since i last saw you, much to the joy of nolan.:)
Hey, cousin, where is the recipe for shrimp bisque?Pete