In the wintertime, baking cookies is a popular tradition. Some people like to make peanut butter blossoms, and others enjoy decorating sugar cookies. This year, I decided to make some classic chocolate chip cookies. The ingredients and instructions can be seen below:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Firstly, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Then, in a larger bowl, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Once this mixture is a consistent texture, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. After the eggs are added, the mixture in the small bowl can gradually be added in, beating thoroughly every so often. One thing to be careful of is adding too much of the dry mix at one time since this could lead to the flour being thrown out of the bowl by the beater. Lastly, once the cookie dough has a consistent texture, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Personally, I chose not to add the nuts, but that choice is entirely up to the baker.

While the oven is preheating to 375° F, take the time to roll the dough into balls that are about the size of a golf ball. For this part, while it may seem messy to some people, using your hands is likely the best way to get the balls to be the right size. As the dough is rolled into balls, each piece can be set on a baking sheet. Make sure the balls of dough are spread evenly, about 1-2 inches apart, so that they don’t get stuck together when they spread out in the baking process.

Once all the cookies are laid out on the baking sheets, put them in the oven for 9 to 11 minutes or until they are golden brown. While the recipe states that these ingredients make roughly 5 dozen large cookies, I came up with only 2-3 dozen small ones. I was somewhat disappointed with this outcome, but I was not disheartened; the cookies looked amazing, and they tasted amazing as well.

Overall, this recipe was very easy to follow, and the instructions were simple and straightforward. Even though the outcome wasn’t as plentiful as I had hoped, the cookies still came out great, and I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who is looking to make a simple holiday treat.