It feels strange that I’ve only gotten around to making such a basic cookie on my 308th on this website, but here we are. I’ve made these before, though I neglected to take a photo at the time, so I wanted to remake them so I could share them here with a picture.

It’s meant to be a chewier cookie, which I love, but my notes from last time commented that I used a medium-sized ice cream scoop and it made sand-dollar-sized cookies because they spread out a lot. Then, I chilled for 2 hours, which still came out just fine. The batch that went in after the dough had been out of the fridge for a little longer browned faster, so I noted that it might be worth putting the dough back in the fridge if you have to wait for a sheet so they’re all the same consistency. 

This time around, I was in more of a hurry as I had promised cookies for some friends who came over to help us with some yard work. I only chilled the dough for 30 minutes and used a small cookie scoop. I was able to fit 12 per baking sheet as opposed to 6 in the previous trial above, but these came out thin and crunchy.

From these experiences, I recommend chilling longer — OR, if you don’t have the time, don’t bother melting the butter first and go with softened butter only, which will need less time to re-solidify during the chilling process. Also, use the smallest cookie scoop you have.

I also think my oven has been baking cookies faster lately, as so many of my more recent batches of cookies have come out flat and crisp like this. In the future, I’m going to try to check them sooner and take them out after 8-10 minutes instead of the recommended 12-15 minutes on the original recipe (the correction is already made below).

If you use a small cookie scoop, you can get 24-28 cookies, versus 12 if you use a medium-sized scoop.

Further below, I have my great-aunt Mary’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. I haven’t made these yet, though I have strong memories of her having these cookies available every time I visited. They were also crunchy. In retrospect, I have no idea if they were crunchy because of her recipe, or if she was just an elderly woman who kept cookies around when kids came to visit and they might have been a bit…aged by the time I got them.

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (try using softened butter or a mix of only half melted)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 oz milk or semi-sweet chocolate chunks
4 oz dark chocolate chunk, or your preference

Cream together the sugars, salt, and butter until a paste forms with no lumps.

Whisk in the egg and vanilla, beating until light ribbons fall off the whisk and remain for a short while before falling back into the mixture.

Sift in the flour and baking soda, then fold the mixture with a spatula (Be careful not to overmix, which would cause the gluten in the flour to toughen resulting in cakier cookies).

Fold in the chocolate chunks, then chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. For a more intense toffee-like flavor and deeper color, chill the dough overnight. The longer the dough rests, the more complex its flavor will be.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop the dough with an ice-cream scoop (see notes above) onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 4 inches of space between cookies and 2 inches of space from the edges of the pan so that the cookies can spread evenly.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the edges have started to barely brown.

Aunt Mary’s chocolate chip cookie recipe:
These were always crunchy, if you want a crunchy cookie.

1/2 cup oleo
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
vanilla

Sift together:
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 package chocolate chips

Drop and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.