A few Sundays ago, Toby decided to bake some cookies…

Baking cookies is always a good way to get to actually eat cookies, so he loves the whole activity. Usually I bake with him, but this time he was determined to do it himself. And, by going off script and putting his own spin on things, he ended up with some of the best chocolate chip cookies we’d ever had. (!)

Here’s his recipe, slightly adapted from Delish:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
A bag of milk chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 375º and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Instead of using multiple bowls and slowly adding ingredients, Toby just dumped all the ingredients into a big bowl and mixed it with a beater. He also melted the butter completely in a pan before adding it in. (You’d think this would make the cookies flat, but it didn’t.)

Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. The cookies were sweet and salty and soft and chewy and we ate a million.

Here are Toby’s tips:
1. “One tip about cookies is that you have to know that that’s not the only good thing that I can make. I also make delicious oatmeal.”
2. “I like to make the cookies with my hands. You smush them with your fingers into balls that are about 1 1/2 inches tall.”
3. “You can eat five at one time. Maybe three cookies in the batter, and then two after they’re baked.”
4. “These are super good cookies.”

Now I’d love to hear: What cookie and brownie recipes do you like? We’d love to make more this winter! We also really like this kids’ cookbook.

P.S. Our favorite strawberry cake, and a boxed brownie taste test.