Chocolate Chip Cookies

[fitfool]

Yum! This was my first attempt at making chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Is there an easier way to mix up the dough that I don't know about? Or is mixing in the flour supposed to feel like a workout? I just used a fork for both the creaming step and also for the flour step. Mixing around and around in a circle got tiring and I even had to take a break. But we got cookies out of it so I'm happy! We got a lot of cookies actually. Can I toss these in the freezer at this point? Or should I have frozen the cookie dough if I wanted to spread it out over a longer time?

Edited to add:Right out of the oven they were soft and chewy. But once they had cooled, they turned hard and crunchy. Microwaving on high for 15 seconds gives me a crisp exterior with a chewy inside. I like my cookies chewy so the microwave saves it. Is there a way to make it stay chewy on its own? Add back more butter? Make the cookies bigger?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 oz chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray baking pans with cooking spray. [not sure if spray was necessary but I wanted the cleanup to be as easy as possible.]
   
2. Cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
   
3. Beat in eggs.
   
4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.
   
5. Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until well blended.
   
6. Mix in chocolate chips.
   
7. Make little patties a little under 1.5 inches in diameter (and a quarter to a half inch tall).
   
   
   
8. Bake at 375F for about 10 minutes until lightly browned.
   
9. Yield was 4.5 dozen cookies that were about 2.5 inches in diameter.
   
   
   

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