The Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

**Before I get to the recipe, don't mind my PURPLE counter tops. The woman we bought this house from had a love affair with purple and every surface in this house was purple. These will soon be replaced by something far more neutral! **

This recipe is extremely popular on the cooking board I frequent. I may have actually been the LAST person to try and make them! After making these I realized that these are some BIG cookies. I followed peoples advice and did make each cookie a full 1/4 cup of batter because supposedly they lose some of their appeal when made smaller.

Overall I thought these were very good. I was not as enthralled by them as everyone else and have enjoyed other chocolate chip cookie recipes more, but these are definitely very good. They were perfectly crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. I think these would be great for entertaining because they are impressive looking due to their size and are also generally extremely popular.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. I baked 3 per tray and it worked out perfectly.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

For me, this yielded 12 very large cookies.