After watching the first half of the Project Runway season finale, my friend Kristen and decided to bake up some late-night chocolate chip cookies to help finish off our bottle of wine.

We based it off the Nestle Toll House Recipe but added a few of our own touches.

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
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips (we threw in a few more until it was extra chocolaty)

The Toll House version said to preheat the oven to 375 degrees, but the first batch was a little crispy so we dropped it to 350 with better results.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

Cream the butter, if straight from the fridge, its easier if you stick it in the microwave for about 15 seconds, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.

Kristen and I spent this portion of the process lamenting about how we wish we had a Kitchenaid stand mixer.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Use a spatula to stir in chocolate chips. The recipe calls for pecans, but we opted to leave them out. You can mix in anything else you want. (I suggest a little peanut butter)

Scoop on to cookie sheet spray with non-stick spray. They work best using a tablespoon to make big heaping cookies.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes. Cool, or eat when they're nice and gooey.


-Ginger