Fun Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  Not just Thursday, but the first Thursday of the month, so you know what that means!  It's the cookie of the month!  This month, we're making fun chocolate chip cookies!  

Not only is this a recipe for an amazing chocolate chip cookie, it also smiles at you!  It's a different take on a snack that smiles back!  

These cookies are slightly crispy, with a chewy texture, and filled with chocolaty goodness.  The taste of vanilla and butter really shine through as well!  I've eaten my fair share of chocolate chip cookies in my day (...we don't need to get in to real numbers, though, do we??), and these are by far, my favorites!

Here's your grocery list for this one:
3 1/2 C All purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp Kosher salt

2 1/2 Sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 C brown sugar

1 C and 2 Tbs granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

12 oz chocolate chips

To make them fun:
Pack of candy eyes

4 oz chocolate chips

2 tsp vegetable oil

To start off with, preheat your 350*, put your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium sized mixing bowl, and give it a quick whisk, making sure that everything is well mixed.  Set this aside, and let's focus on the good stuff - the butter!

I like to put the butter in the mixer bowl first, and whip it up so that there are no chunks of butter; to me, this helps ensure a smooth cookie dough.

Once the butter is smooth, add in the sugars, and cream them until they just come together.

Once the sugars have been creamed together, add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between addition.  

Once the eggs have been added, add in the vanilla and mix well, again.

Take the flour mix that we set aside earlier, and slowly add it in with your mixer running on low (you don't want to be wearing most of this!).  Mix this until the dough just comes together.  You don't want to over mix this!  Over mixed cookie dough results in a tough cookie.

Once your dough has just formed, mix in the chocolate chips.  I, personally, like to use the miniature chocolate chips, but any sized chocolate chip will work just fine.

Look at all of that cookie dough goodness!  I like to scoop these out at about a 2 Tbs size; this makes a beautiful, large cookie.  I like to line my baking sheets with parchment paper, and bake them for 10-15 minutes (today, my cookies baked up perfectly at 14 minutes).

Once your cookies come out of the oven, let them cool on the pan, for about 5 minutes, before transferring them to a wire cooling wrack.

Now, you could leave these cookies as-is, and they would be really lovely chocolate chip cookies.  Or, you could turn them into ice cream sandwiches, like I did in my chocolate chip oatmeal cookie ice cream post.  

Or, you can turn them into fun chocolate chip cookies.  To do that, put about 1/4 C of chocolate chips, and 2 tsp of vegetable oil, into a zip top bag.  Microwave this until the chocolate chips have melted (mine just took 30 seconds!).  Check it every 30 seconds, to make sure that the chocolate chips haven't burned.  They will retain their shape, even as they melt, as weird as that is.  So, after ever 30 seconds, take the bag out and squish the chocolate chips!

These are the fun candy eyes I got for these cookies; I found them at Wal-Mart, but I'm sure you can also find them in craft stores as well, or on-line!  They had two sizes at my store, and I went with the larger size.

I cut the corner of the zip top bag, squeezed a little bit of the melted chocolate onto the back of each eye, and made a cute little nose and mouth!  My daughter got a HUGE kick out of these!  Once the chocolate sets up, it will act as a glue for the eyes, keeping them on the cookie.  

                              
Embrace the funky shaped cookies, and make a cyclopes or other fun monsters!  It's almost Halloween, right?