Kicking up Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? chocolate chip cookies

I do! And it’s the infamous Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

However, I don’t use Toll House chocolate chips anymore… not since I discovered Guittard chocolate chips! They are big chips of heaven and the chocolate is soooo much better than Hershey’s, Nestle or Toll House. The 11.5 oz. bag is perfect for a single batch, unless you’ve stumbled onto the 2 lb. bag at World Market and you opt to make two batches with a single bag. That works out to 16 oz. of chips per batch, but who am I to say too many chips in a batch of cookies is a bad thing?! My grandmother, however, would have gotten out her kitchen scale and measured out the appropriate 11.5 oz. because she knew how to ration food (and tin-foil) like the best Irish/German farm woman raised in the depression. Either quantity will still be heavenly.

Yes, it’s a great recipe, but could it be even better? I was considering this one day while listening to Trisha Yearwood’s show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. She was making a long-time family recipe of chocolate chip cookies and it was definitely not the Toll House recipe. I started scribbling down my ideas on an old wrinkled pad of paper in my nightstand…. rum, oats, pecans, what else will I need? Yes, I just said rum, which happens to be one my favorite liquors. Coconut rum would be perfect because a small measure of coconut can be used within to soften cookies without significantly changing the flavor.

The result?

Rum & Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Quaker quick oats (grind in a blender until flour-like)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Kerrygold Irish butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Bacardi coconut rum
1/2 cup chopped pecans
11 1/2 oz (or more!) Guittard chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

Cream together soft butter and sugars. Gently add eggs, vanilla and rum. Add dry ingredients (flour, oats, soda & salt). Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Chill covered for up to 1 hour.

Using a cookie scoop, portion onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Bake in a 350º oven for 9-11 minutes.

cookie dough

Eat warm or store in an air tight container. I prefer to keep more than a dozen cookies in the freezer so they stay fresher. Otherwise, they are served to guests or sent to the office with my husband. I get a few, don’t get me wrong, but 3-4 dozen is the last thing I need sitting in the house because I can’t say no to a fresh chocolate chip cookie.

Not enough rum flavor for your taste? Use a pastry brush to lightly brush a touch of coconut rum on top of warm cookies just from the oven.

The monthly office social just happened to be on Friday, so the cookies were packed up for enjoyment by many, and the Tupperware container returned home with only 3-4 remaining little morsels of heaven. I call that a success! I will, however, have to make another batch very soon because I am confident my gas oven was not properly heating since the cookies took longer to bake and that’s why they weren’t flatter. I’ll let you know how that batch turns out, and I hope you will do the same.

Blessings,
Tina