Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

These are thick, chewy cookies... yum.

I use organic stone ground flour and free-range, organic eggs from my friends at Full Belly Farm. The chickens that lay the eggs roam free, and help keep the farm land healthy by eating insects and grubs, scratching and helping turn and aerate the soil, and fertilizing as they go. Quite a system when you think about it. The butter is from Strauss Family Creamery in Marin County. All these folks care deeply about how they produce food, and I respect their organic, thoughtful, and sustainable approaches. Support your local food community!

On to the cookies, and a quick story: these cookies also make great gifts. This batch is a thank you gift for the owner of the shop that recently managed to press the wrinkles out of my fancy-go-to-city duds within an hour after I dropped them off.  One of these days, I'll own an iron. Until then, I'll keep trading favors with my friends and neighbors. :)

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions, and heat your oven to 325F. 
   
2. Sift dry ingredients together; set aside.
   
3. Mix butter and both sugars until thoroughly combined. 
   
4. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. 
   
5. Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips.
   
6. Roll a bit less than 1/2 cup of dough into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the pieces 90 degrees so the rough surfaces face up, and place  onto cookie sheet.
   
7. Bake about 18 minutes, (alternating the baking sheets on the rack after 9 minutes) until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden. The centers should be soft and a little puffy.
   
8. Cool the cookies until you can move them without breaking, then move to wire racks. 
   
9. Makes about a dozen big, chewy cookies.