Christine's Absolutely Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

After I graduated from college, I went to work for a company in South Dallas. It was my first 'real' job outside of retail. After a few months at this job, a very sweet young woman name Christine joined our office and we quickly became great friends. I have since left the job (it sucked by the way....way long, boring story) but I have kept up my friendship with the loverly Christine... or Chiquita Banana as I call her. Hey... she calls me Hot Pants or HP Sauce.... another way long though slightly more interesting yet at the same time kinda creepy story (no... Christine isn't the creepy part ;) )... some day perhaps I'll share! Even though I have been gone from that job for almost 9 months, Christine and I frequently get together for movies and food at Studio Movie Grill (in fact..we're meeting up on Saturday to see The Dark Knight!).

It was during one of these movie and food days where we discovered that we had a shared passion for cooking. I told Christine about my blog and she became the first person I knew that I told about my blog and allowed them to see it. My family obviously knows but I haven't let them see it yet! I know...I know...I'm crazy but I don't know if they quite understand what I'm doing yet! Somehow we got to the topic of chocolate chip cookies and Christine told me about this recipe that she had created. Created? Wow! I was impressed to say the least. I love to cook but I haven't attempted to create a recipe from scratch! She had been looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for a long time and after many misses decided to come up with her own.

She graciously gave me the recipe and allowed me to feature them on my meager blog. She said I could claim them as my own but after all of the hard work she put into creating this delicious cookie... there was no way I was going to do that! Unlike many chocolate chip cookies, this one was not one of those thin cookies. This one was big and slightly puffy, packed with milk and white chocolate chips. She also added nuts to the mix for an even more tasty treat.

They made a big batch, I got 2 1/2 dozen before... ahem... quality testing. After one bite of the fresh from the oven cookie...I was in heaven. These are without a doubt in my mind, the absolute best chocolate chip cookies that I have ever had. The two kinds of chocolate compliment each other very well and the nuts (I used pecans naturally) added a nice crunch to the cookie. I'm not sure what exactly made these so good but I was barely able to restrain myself from eating just two.

I took one dozen of the cookies to my office and they were gone by 8 am. Almost every person told me that they were possibly the best cookie they had ever had. One person said they had a slightly salty taste then bam! sweet that together was amazing. I had no less than 5 people who had not even tasted the cookie, say that many people told them that I had made some amazing cookies and they needed to try them! lol! I brought the next dozen I had at home and they were also gone within minutes. Nearly a week later I still have people asking about them.

As tempting as it is to keep this amazing cookie to myself, I just had to share it with everyone. Christine took a lot of time and effort into creating this cookie and her 'suffering' paid off tenfold. So here is perhaps...no the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever had. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Please check out Christine's Blog, The Void and Nestra! She has started food blogging and is doing an awesome job! Go Christine! You rok!

Chocolate Chip Choose-Your-Own-Nuts Cookies or as I named them...Christine's Absolutely Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
7oz. of a block of milk chocolate chopped into chunks (I used chips)
5oz. of a block of white chocolate chopped into chunks (I used chips)
3/4 cup of unsalted chopped pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts or cashews, depending on taste. (I used pecans)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

3. Beat butter in an electric stand mixer until there are no lumps (about a minute).

4. Add all of the sugar to the butter and mix for another couple of minutes or until the mixture lightens in color slightly.

5. While the mixer is still running, add the two eggs, slowly and the vanilla extract. Continue to beat the mixture until just incorporated.

6. Add the flour mixture in thirds, incorporating each third before adding the next. After adding the last third of flour, mix only until the ingredients have just come together. Do not over-beat.

7. Fold in the chocolate chunks and nuts.

8. Using a tablespoon, spoon generous, but equal balls of dough onto a baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each ball.

9. Bake, one cookie sheet at a time, on the middle rack until the cookies are golden brown on the edges and soft in the middle - between 10 and 12 minutes depending on taste (mine cooked for 15 minutes). Let the cookies stand on the sheet for at least 3 minutes to set before movng them to a rack. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until all of the dough has been used up.

Yield: Depends on how big you like your cookies to be. I got 2 1/2 dozen pretty big cookies.

Recipe courtesy of Christine of The Void and Nestra