I grew up on chocolate chip cookies. My mom baked a batch every week for us seven kids. We ate them as snacks, packed them in our school lunches, and enjoyed them as a bedtime treat with a glass of milk. Warm from the oven, cold from the freezer, we loved them every way. I honestly thought everyone ate chocolate chip cookies.

That changed when I started having friends over after school. To my surprise, not everyone baked, ate, or even knew about homemade chocolate chip cookies.

When I had children of my own, I carried on the tradition and baked cookies every week. I used my mom’s recipe, never realizing her “chocolate chip cookies” were actually oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Not all chocolate chip cookies had oatmeal, who knew? Over the years, it’s still my go-to. But once I had the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies down pat, I couldn’t help but wonder, why not try to track down the perfect classic chocolate chip cookie, too?

A good friend of mine, Kris, made the best Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were soft, delicious, and addictive. She even shared her recipe, but no matter how hard I tried, mine never turned out like hers. Later, my friend Natalie introduced me to her recipe, which involves browning the butter and refrigerating the dough before baking. I’ve only made her recipe once, but they were not as good as Natalie’s.

Over the years, I’ve baked cookies from Panera, Tate’s, and even the famous Neiman Marcus copycat recipes. All were okay, but none measured up to that perfect cookie I’ve been chasing.

The other day, after working outside placing concrete stepping pads, I came in, showered, and decided I needed a little time in my happy place, my kitchen. Chocolate chip cookies immediately came to mind. Earlier in the week, I’d read a recipe titled: Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. The writer claimed it was her mother’s famous recipe, so why not give it a try?

Usually, I review three or four recipes, pulling the best ideas from each, and that’s what I did this time. A little of this, a little of that. The dough was soft and easy to handle, and I must admit that spoonful of raw dough was delicious!

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Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups white sugar

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

1 ½ cups margarine, softened (I used 1 cup regular Crisco and 1 stick butter, both at room temperature. I usually use margarine, but Warren likes to know there is butter in his cookies. But then he grew up milking cows!)

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs (I used 3 eggs plus 1 extra yolk. I recently read that store-bought eggs have smaller yolks because younger hens lay more frequently, so I added the extra yolk for richness.)

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup finely blended old-fashioned oatmeal (I think oatmeal adds a nutty flavor and makes anything feel healthier!)

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ to 2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate, but you can use dark, semi-sweet, or even peanut butter chips.) The original recipe called for 1 to 2 bags (12 oz) of chips!

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream sugars and shortenings until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add eggs (some bakers recommend adding one at a time).

Stir in vanilla.

Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. (I prefer using a wooden spoon, my mom never let us use a mixer once the eggs were mixed in.)

Fold in chocolate chips.

Chill dough for at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight, for best results.

If you’re in a hurry, you can bake right away. I needed a batch to take to friends, so I skipped the chilling for one pan, and they still turned out great, soft, chewy, and they held their shape without spreading too much.

Bake for 8–12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown (every oven is different).

Cool on a wire rack.

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Tips & Variations

• Use different chips, mint, dark chocolate, peanut butter, or even a mix.
• Freeze dough balls for quick, fresh-baked cookies anytime.
• Roll dough into a log, wrap in plastic, freeze, and slice off rounds when you need a fast treat.

These cookies turned out wonderfully soft, flavorful, and satisfying. Warren loved them, our neighbors raved, and I think I’ve finally found the one.

P.S. I’m convinced it’s the oatmeal.