The Chocolate Chip Cookie Collection: #CreativeCookieExchange

The theme for Creative Cookie Exchange this month is Your Favorite Cookie–so I knew I needed to round up all of the chocolate chip cookie recipes shared on The Spiced Life! Affiliate links have been used to link to items I discuss.

When the theme of “Your Favorite Cookie” was suggested for this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange I immediately said OK but I am doing a round up. After all, I have been blogging for ten years (holy hell. Maybe we should stop and contemplate that for a moment) and clearly multiple iterations of my favorite cookie have already been all over this site. But given that I have a category in my archives of “chocolate chip cookies” that means (more or less) cookies with chocolate chips, I guess I first should narrow down what I am talking about.

When I say Chocolate Chip Cookie, I do not mean any cookie with chocolate chips (which is what the archive leads you to). And I do not mean crispy versions of the classic chocolate chip cookie. I mean thick, chewy, brown sugar and vanilla. Some changes, like the addition of nut butters, whole grains, interesting additional flavors are all fine. It’s like porn–you know it when you see (taste or smell) it–it’s based off the classic Ruth Wakefield Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie–which after years of searching is not my favored recipe, ironically. I never get sick of these cookies, and that is why my blog has so many versions of them. So without further ado…

I lied, one more bit of ado. When I started this blog (holy hell 10 years) I had not yet perfected the chocolate chip cookie. To my satisfaction. So a lot of the early posts are experiments with different recipes. And who knows, maybe they would be your idea of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. So I believe they are worth including. I will begin with the years of searching:

The “Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies”–I am listing this one first because I made it almost 10 years ago and boy does it show far I have come in every regard. It also discusses my search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie in greater detail. (Click on pictures for links.)

The “Bakery Classic” Chocolate Chip Cookie

Cheerio Chocolate Chip Cookies: my first attempt at mixing in alternative cereals.

“Marcy’s Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies” -this was another attempt by me to find the perfect recipe and I was not too happy with how they came out, but it is worth reading as it pertains to my chocolate chip cookie quest.

“Bill Yosses’ Best Chocolate Chip Cookie”

As with so many other people, the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe was life changing. It is not the recipe I eventually landed on as my favorite, but so many key points became words of wisdom to live by when making cookies.

I also learned a lot from Alton Brown’s #10 Chocolate Chip Cookies, as well as everything he had to say about making them in general.

Really these should have been titled Rice Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies, as I experimented with mixing in a another cereal.

In my opinion most Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies qualify as chocolate chip cookies, and that includes these.

And a Valentine’s version of Ghiradelli’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Sometimes the changes are more about aesthetics, as with these Spider Infested Chocolate Chip Cookies. By now I was becoming pretty confident in my chocolate chip cookies and started playing with ways to gussy them up.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies–ironically this recipe is my sister in law Katie’s favorite from my site, but while I loved the cookies, I really only wanted to do it once. The hassle of browning the butter is not worth it as often as I like to make chocolate chip cookies!

One of the best things about living in southwest Ohio was the unbelievable baking section and all of the crazy mix-ins I could find at Jungle Jim’s. These Double Chocolate Chip and Cappuccino Crunch Cookies are a perfect example.

These Snickers and Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies became pretty well known, if for no other reasons than my husband’s students loved them and then Sammy enthusiastically biting into one (see top of post)!

These Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies remain one of my favorites to this day.

I was pretty proud of these Chocolate Chip Cookies with Zucchini and Almonds–be sure to remember them in late summer when the zucchini are going crazy!

Around about 2014 I realized I was regularly making chocolate chip cookies that I thought were perfect–and I had never shared exactly what I was doing. A lot of it goes back to the NY Times recipe, but not all. I made these Chocolate Chip Cookies with an Assortment of Chocolate and my brother’s friend made such a fuss over them I realized I needed to get them onto the blog! So this is the basic template I use. And if you are curious, the picture at the very top of this post is this recipe made with Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chunks.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Thyme Infused Browned Butter –don’t knock them until you try them! They were a huge hit!

I am ending–for now, since I know I will eventually get the urge to fiddle again, and another chocolate chip cookie will get added to this list– with what I consider to be the most gourmet, successfully interesting chocolate chip cookie I ever made: Rosemary Bourbon Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt.

I hope you found some cookies to try! Be sure to check out everyone else’s favorite cookies below–and tell me: what is YOUR favorite cookie?