A well rounded (chewy, chocolatey) cookie

No, really. Want round cookies? Airbake 'em! Airbake pans are designed with a pocket of air sandwiched in between the aluminum sheets which allow for even baking...and you get a round cookie pretty much everytime.

I've made cookies oodles of times, and I definitely rebel against the rules of baking. Yes, yes I know baking is a precise science...but I get bored easily, and wonder "what would happen if..." I try to keep my cookies flatter and on the chewy side, and throw a fit if they dont flatten, 'cause I added too much flour or something.

Anyway, so my blog wouldn't be complete without my 'gee i have 3 hours to kill before work i think i'll bake' cookie recipe. So here we go.

::gathering my raw materials::

The basic chocolate chunk cookie

1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4-6 oz chopped dark chocolate
(for this batch, I added some orange zest and 1/4 cup orange juice)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 F (sensitive ovens, I'd say 325 F) In a mixing bowl, cream both sugars and butter with an electric mixer.


Add your egg and vanilla extract.



(I also added my orange zest and juice here). So sue me, I like my cookies to have a little zing.

Add your baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour to the wet ingredients and mix until everything comes together as a dough.



Mix in your chocolate chunks, nuts, raisins, or whatever else you like for texture.

Your batter should be "roll-able" at this point--not super duper sticky, but not too dry. As best as you can, roll your dough into "balls" (they don't have to be perfect at all--it's more just to keep the dough together), and plop them on your cookie sheet. Depending on my mood, I'll either make jumbo cookies or small ones. They should yield about 18-22 medium sized cookies. Just keep in mind to space them out far enough on your cookie sheet where they'll have room to spread out. Use two sheets if you need to.



Pop them in your oven for about 15 minutes @ 350 F (or again, if you have an uber sensitive oven that scorches at that temp, drop it to about 325 F). I use a timer, because 15 minutes goes by pretty fast when you're doing other stuff. Remove when they've turned brown and flattened nicely.



Let them cool and remove from the baking sheets. This batch came out flat and chewy, which is just the way I like them. So go buy an airbake pan set, and have fun making round cookies. = ) You can find them at Target, Big Lots, Walmart, or any other store that supplies baking equipment. Have fun!