World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

My baking journey all started with a chocolate chip cookie. My friend (Brittani) was having a bake sale for her dance recital and was talking about making chocolate chip cookies. She said she was going to use premade cookie dough. I was in middle school and never heard of cookie dough before!

So I go to the grocery store and buy a roll of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough, read the instructions, turned on the oven for the first time and baked some pretty delicious cookies.

(If you're from an Asian family like me, your oven was probably used to store pots and pans, not to bake amazingly delicious treats.)

I was so proud of myself and eagerly stacked them on a plate, ready to package them up in the morning for the bake sale.

Brittani came over in the morning and I was so excited to show her the cookies I made. We took off the plastic wrap and BAM all the cookies were stuck together! Apparently you're not supposed to stick hot out of the oven cookies on top of each other, you're supposed to cool them first. Well--- this little detail inspired me to experiment more in the kitchen and 15+ years later I've learned a lot and am still learning more everyday.

What I love most about food is the happiness it brings someone when I make something for them, the ability for it to unite and bring people together, experiencing other cultures through food, the musical sounds in the kitchen, textures, smells and the opportunity to be creative through food!

I experimented with chocolate chip cookie recipes for many years and here it is! It's perfectly gooey, chewy and slightly crispy. I store extra cookies in the freezer and warm them up in the toaster oven for few minutes and they taste like you just baked a fresh batch. Amazinggg! These are my go to when I'm craving something sweet because I usually have the ingredients on hand.

I'm excited to share more delicious recipes with you and hope my blog inspires you to get in the kitchen to try something new!

World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
2. Beat butter and sugars until smooth about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, mix on medium speed for two minutes.
3. Add flour, baking soda, salt and mix until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough for 30 minutes - one hour in the refrigerator.
4. Shape two tablespoons of cookie dough into a ball and line on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 10-14 minutes.

NOTES:

• Optional: Dot the cookies with chocolate chips because you can never have enough chocolate or if you're extra and want them to look pretty.
• You can freeze balls of cookie dough up to 3 months. Bake directly from the freezer for a minute or two extra.
• I also freeze fully baked cookies after they cool. Warm them up in the toaster oven for two minutes to satisfy sweet tooth cravings!