Quarantine Cooking #2

Last Wednesday, Fiona shared her mom's amazing raspberry muffin recipe, so this week I thought that I would share Joanna Gaines' chocolate chip cookies. You might have heard of Joanna from her HGTV show Fixer Upper. A few weeks back, on her Instagram story, she shared her go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. If you like thick, chewy cookies, I highly recommend this recipe! Have fun baking and stay healthy!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (**if you do not have sea salt, regular salt works just fine)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Make sure your oven rack is positioned in the center level and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until blended. Add the vanilla and beat until blended.

4. Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Then mix on medium until flour is just mixed in, then turn the mixer to high for a few seconds to pull the dough together; it should be chunky.

5. Pour in the chocolate chips and beat on high for 5 seconds to thoroughly mix them in.

6. Drop large spoonfuls on the lined cookie sheet; do not flatten them. Bake until they are lightly browned on top, 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

7. Store the cookies in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to three days.

Notes:

When I made these cookies, I found that mine had to bake for closer to 13 to 15 minutes due to their thickness. I suggest starting with 10 to 11 minutes, but do not be concerned if the cookies do not look ready yet.

This recipe is supposed to yield 40 cookies. I was able to make about 30 cookies, but I think mine were a little larger than they were supposed to be.