Brookie's Cookies

Years ago when our daughter Brooke (we called her Brookie and sometimes we still do) was about 16 years old, we were vacationing in Montana.  We arrived in a beautiful small mountain town around noon to find that there were only 2 restaurants serving lunch.  The one we choose just happened to be next door to a small cookie bakery named Brookie's cookies.  We had a hard time convincing our daughters (especially Brooke) to eat lunch first and then cookies.  For years, whenever Brooke made cookies at home, we teased her about making Brookie's cookies.  Brooke is in Puerto Rico now and she tells us that soft American cookies (think homemade chocolate chip) are a big novelty there.  Hard, store-bought cookies (think English biscuits) are easy to come by but no one bakes the soft kind we are used to.  So Brookie, these cookies are making their way to you in Puerto Rico via snail mail.  Hope you like them.

This recipe comes from Ben's Cookies.  You may know of Ben's.  It's a British company, sort of like a Mrs. Fields cookie store here.  The only store outside of Britain was in Salt Lake City; until last fall when they closed.  The bakery that took over their lease has contined making Ben's soft chocolate chip cookies.  They are wonderfully soft and cakey, and MUCH more affordable to make at home than to buy.  I scoop my cookie dough with a spring scoop (like you would use to scoop ice cream). 

 See the perfectly rounded ball of dough?  Don't flatten the dough ball if you want a thick, chewy cookie.  The scoop also helps me make the cookies uniform in size.  I could just eat the dough raw, it's that good. 

Ben’s Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

1 cup brown

2 large eggs

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups of chocolate chunks

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Next add the dry ingredients, and mix just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes at 375º Farenheit or just until the bottoms start to turn golden brown.  For soft cookies,don't overbake as the cookies will continue to cook a bit as they cool on the sheets.  Let them cool for about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Remove to a rack to let cool completely. 

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies.