Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies – Feingold Stage 1

1 cup (2 sticks) butter,
softened  (I use Land O’Lakes or
Horizon Organic)

1 ½ cups of firmly packed
light brown sugar (Domino Light Brown
Sugar)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs  (bring to room temp by placing in
warm water)         

2 ½  tsp vanilla   (I use organic to avoid corn syrup)

2 ½ cups flour (any flour will do but I like King Arthur Unbleached flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ tsp salt

1 ½ 12 ounce bags of
semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli)

1.     
Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

2.     
Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
(Let the butter sit out for a ½ hour to an hour before using.) 

3.     
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
in a bowl.  Stir, then add to the first
mixture.  Mix well.

4.     
Stir in the chocolate chips. 

5.     
Place golf ball sized dough onto ungreased cookie
sheet. 

6.     
Bake for 9 minutes or until edges are light
brown.  Makes 30 cookies. 

The recipe says the
cookies will seem slightly undercooked after the 9 minutes, but that they will
continue to cook when you take them out. 
I think it depends on the pan you use sometimes too, but I had to cook
them about two minutes longer.  They are
supposed to be crispy on the edges, and chewy at the center.  16 ounces also seems like an awful lot of
chocolate chips.  I sometimes use less –
about one 12 oz bag.  (Let eggs and
butter sit out at room temp for an hour before using if you remember.)

I think it helps a lot to
use a good baking pan.  If you use one
that is dark, you will burn the bottoms if you don’t adjust the cooking time
and temperature (lower it by 25 degrees). 
I got a silver color “air bake” pan that claimed to make the cookies
bake more evenly.  It works.  I also use a cookie dough scooper so that the
cookies all come out the same size and thickness.  If you don’t use one, make sure you make them
golf ball like or they will end up too thin and burn on the bottom.

* I got this recipe from
“A Treasury of Top Secret Recipes” book by Todd Wilbur.

Feingold Stage 1