Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Previously I chronicled the baking of rainbow cookies, but it occurred to me that something as complicated as all that might be a bit intimidating to someone who is just thinking about baking for the first time. In the hopes that I might make baking seem more accessible to a first time baker, here is a brief run through of a much simpler recipe that anyone should be able to try.


This is really simple. Just follow the recipe on the back of a bag of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips.


You will need flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter,vanilla extract, baking powder/soda, walnuts, and the chocolate chips.

OK, pay attention carefully, because this is really neat. If you want to have crunchy cookies, use more white sugar than brown sugar. Conversely, if you want chewy cookies, use more brown sugar than white, or add molasses (brown sugar = white sugar+molasses). The molasses helps the cookies retain moisture, resulting in a chewier texture.

If you want your cookies to be puffier, use more baking powder instead of baking soda. Baking powder is baking soda with cream of tartar added, which supplies its own acid source, blah blah blah, puffier cookies.

It is best to play with your ratios of white/brown sugar and baking powder/soda until you get a form and texture which you find most pleasing. I like chewy cookies, so I use almost exclusively brown sugar, unless it really doesn't fit the cookie well.


Cream the butter and sugar together, and then mix in all the wet ingredients, and then all the dry ingredients, saving the walnuts and chocolate chips for last.


Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (trust me, or don't and suffer for it), and lay out the cookies, leaving room for them to expand radially as they bake.


Bake the cookies. Leave them in a little longer if you are going for a crispy batch, or cut the time on the mark if you are trying for a chewier variety. Achieve chewiness as I described by controlling your sugar, not by under baking the cookies. Chewy cookies rock. Raw cookies are not as good as either straight cookie dough or properly finished cookies, so it is just a waste of either time or effort, or possibly both.


Let the cookies cool, and then eat them. Cooling is important, because the melted chocolate will burn you, and also stick to whatever it is burning (i.e. you).

I think that most people will find this to be a very accessible recipe, perhaps more so than the rainbow cookies or something elaborate like that, so I hope that this might encourage someone to give baking a try on their own.

I welcome any questions, comments, or concerns.