It’s Backwards

When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I’m sort of a purist. I’m a cream butter, add sugar, then beat in the eggs and vanilla kinda girl. I still love my semi-sweet chocolate chips, though I’ll conceed that their fancy cousins chocolate chunk and cocoa nib have a special place in my heart. There are millions of chocolate chip cookie recipes flying around this world, and all of us have our favorites– this recipes, as of late, happens to be mine.

I don’t add cocoa powder to make the dough chocolate. I don’t melt Ghiradelli, or dip anything… I don’t even add any nuts. Because in my humble opinion, those are different sorts of cookies. Not chocolate chip. Chocolate chip cookies are buttery and chewy. They have a gorgeous goldie sort of hue that makes you think they’ll crunch, but they’re soft and sweet. The chocolate chips melt, but hold their shape.

I adore a plain old chocolate chip cookie… because really they’re not so plain at all.

This recipe is traditional and the treats it yields are the perfect blend of what I think a chocolate chip cookie should be. But it’s backwards.

Just wait; you’ll see,

In a large bowl blend softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder (*** I told you so***), vanilla, and eggs.

Adding the baking soda and baking powder in this first step is contrary to just about every cookie I’ve ever baked. Dry ingredients always get mixed together and then added to the wet ingredients at the END, not the beginning! Sometimes my baking blunders yield terrific results. Backwards Chocolate Chip Cookies: case in point.

Stir in the tried and true semi-sweet chocolate chips. Baking trends come and go, but these little darlings will never disappoint.

Sift in the flour and stir everything well. The dough will look suspiciously dry. Cover it tightly and put it in the fridge for at least an hour.

I had too many things going on when I made this batch so I didn’t follow my own advice, but this works best when you remove the cookie dough from the bowl to refrigerate it. Shape it into a log & wrap it in plastic (I find for me that works best) or you will have to do what I did here and hack pieces out a bit at a time to form your cookies.

Pinch off about a tablespoon at a time and roll the dough into little balls, then flatten slightly. The heat from your hands will warm the butter in the dough and make it pliable. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let them cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from the cookie sheets.

Backwards, yes. But you won’t be sorry you went in reverse- I promise.

Backwards Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 stick of butter (I use salted butter because I don’t add extra salt), SOFTENED*** that’s important***

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 2/3 cups of sifted all purpose flour

To Make

Blend together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips. Then stir in the sifted flour. Shape the dough into two “logs” and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Preheat the oven to 350. Using about a tablespoon at a time, shape the dough into little balls and then flatten slightly. Bake for 8 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet, and let them cool for about 2-3 minutes before removing to a wire rack.