Richest Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

When it comes to chocolate chip cookies most people have strong preferences and opinions. Perhaps it is because chocolate chip cookies bring memories of home. Crunchy cookies versus soft and chewy cookies, bakery bought versus homemade, dark chocolate chips versus milk chocolate chips, a sprinkle of salt on top or not, and the list of varieties could go on and on. Personally I prefer a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. My husband loves hard and crunchy cookies. We are at odds in our house when it comes to chocolate chip cookies but since I am the baker and my husband's mom lives relatively close and he can go to his parents house to get crunchy cookies, the soft and chewy cookies nearly always win. As a child I loved chocolate chip cookies so much that my mom taught me how to make them when I was seven so that I could be on cookie duty and not request that she make them a half-dozen times a week. :) This is the recipe I grew up making and it comes from an old cookbook that my mom has called With Singleness of Heart. I have tried recipes from other cookbooks and from numerous blogs and this is the recipe that I always prefer. This recipe makes enough to serve a very large crowd (about 80 large cookies) and since it is not often that I have to feed a large crowd, it is great that the dough freezes very well, as do the cookies if you have already baked them all. 

Richest Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 80 large cookies. 

2 cups butter

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups brown sugar (packed)

1 tsp. vanilla

6 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

Beat butter, eggs, sugars and vanilla until light and creamy. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together and add to creamed mixture; blend thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips and nut. (Dough should be slightly crumbly.) Drop dough by large spoonfuls from a small ice cream scoop. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to ten minutes or until cookies are light and look not quite done. Don't over bake. Remove from cookie sheet immediately and cool on racks. Makes about 80 large cookies. Cookies are delicious warmed in the microwave oven for a few seconds.