Dark and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies Master Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 . Place the melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. While mixing on low speed, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat well. Stop the mixer, add the flour, baking soda, and salt, mix on low speed until all the ingredients are incorporated, then increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer and let the dough cool for a few minutes (it will be a bit warm after using the melted butter). Add the chopped chocolates and the toasted pecans, and mix well by hand.

Place heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough on a well-greased sheet pan, making sure you give the cookies enough space to spread as they cook. Bake until light golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack or paper towels and let cool completelyif you can wait that long.

Dark and White Chocolate Chunk Cookie Variations

Almond and White Chocolate Cookies with Lemon

In many almond desserts, the almond component seems to overshadow all the other flavors. These cookies, however, have a subtle almond flavor that complements the tang of the lemon zestso be sure to use a gentle touch when adding the almond extract.

Follow the directions for the dark and white chocolate chunk cookies master recipe, adding 1/2 cup almond paste, 3/4 cup ground toasted almonds, and the finely grated zest of 1 lemon along with the sugar. Proceed as in the master recipe, substituting 1 teaspoon almond extract for the vanilla, 1 cups chopped white chocolate for the dark and white chocolate combination, and omitting the pecans. Bake as directed in the master recipe.

Oatmeal Cookies

Working on this recipe was my cookie purgatory. Johns grandmother just happened to make the best oatmeal cookies around, and no recipe I ever tried from a cookbook ever came close to hers. They were her adaptation of a Fanny Farmer recipe, and she put everything but the kitchen sink in them. Being a chef and a cookbook author, I owed it to my standing in the family to develop a recipe that was at least as good, but I certainly didnt hold my breath for better. I bet I baked about twenty variations of the master recipe to come up with this one. My solution was to decrease the eggs by one, cut the flour way down, and add the oatmeal along with raisins and dried cranberries. I was never so happy as when John told me these cookies were as good as Nanas oatmeal cookies. I literally danced around the kitchen

Follow the directions for the dark and white chocolate chunk cookies master recipe, adding 1 egg instead of 2 and decreasing the flour to 3/4 cup. After removing the bowl from the mixer and letting the dough cool, add 2 cups oatmeal, 1/2 cup each raisins and dried cranberries, and, if you want to go all out, 2 cups butterscotch chips. Mix well by hand. Bake as directed in the master recipe.