Eats: Chocolate Chip Butter Cookies

Hello! A recent thrift store trip resulted in a purchase of Taste of Home's Chocolate Lover's Cookbook. I guess you could say I'm a chocolate lover - and my husband is even more so. So what better than a cookbook loaded with recipes devoted to that ingredient? 

Decided to make what sounded like an easy but good cookie recipe yesterday, Chocolate Chip Butter Cookies. How easy? After the inaugural baking, I had already memorized the recipe and rattled it off to my appreciative husband. (I should add he was appreciative of the cookies, not my memorization skills!)

Check out the recipe and see for yourself how easy it is:

Chocolate Chip Butter Cookies (from Taste of Home's Chocolate Lover's Cookbook; recipe credited to Janis Gruca, Mokena Illinois)

1 cup butter (no substitutes)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup (6 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Melt butter in a microwave oven or double boiler; stir in vanilla. Cool completely. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar; stir in butter mixture and chocolate chips(mixture will be crumbly). Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets; flatten slightly. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool on wire racks. Yield: about 4 dozen. 

Notes: I hastened the cooling of the melted butter by placing it in the refrigerator while I waited for the oven to preheat. My yield was 30 cookies, probably because I made them a bit bigger than specified. 

The results:

"...these crisp, buttery treats can be made in no time" Gruca commented in the note that accompanied her recipe in the cookbook. I agree with her - these taste a bit like a cross between shortbread, Russian teacakes and chocolate chip cookies. All good cookies, so these are good as well! And they really are very fast to make. I saved even more time - accidentally - by neglecting to flatten the cookies before I put them in the oven. This didn't seem to affect the baking time, and in fact, I think they look better than the ones photographed for the cookbook. 

And there you have it - an easy, delicious cookie. If you'd like a homemade treat but don't have much time, give these a try!