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Butter For a cleaner, fresher, more buttery taste use unsalted butter. Salt is a preservative so salted butter is seldom as fresh.
Speaking of salt... try topping each cookie with a few grains of fleur de sel just before baking.
Vanilla Use pure vanilla, or for a real treat use vanilla bean paste, and add a bit extra.
Chocolate Not pre-formed chocolate chunks or chips but good quality baking chocolate or bar chocolate, chopped up. Chips have additives to help them maintain their shape when baked but this means there's less chocolate in them. If you taste them side by side you'll see what I mean. The one I use most often is a 60% dark Belcolade or Callebaut chocolate.
Nuts I love pecans in my cookies. Walnuts are good too as long as you know they're fresh. Always taste walnuts before you add them to a recipe. Toasting nuts elevates the flavour ten-fold. Bake them on a cookie sheet at 350F for about 5 minutes or until they're fragrant. Let cool and just roughly chop them. Don't store toasted nuts as they go rancid quite quickly. Oats If you use oatmeal try using half rolled oats and half quick oats for a nice balance. If you use all quick oats they don't stand out much and using all rolled oats can sometimes end up more like a granola bar than a cookie. However if I had to pick one it would be rolled oats.
Let me know what you think. Happy baking! Update September 11, 2011 As requested, here's one of my favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes. These are the ones pictured above and believe me, they weren't on that plate very long. :) Chocolate Chip Cookies Straight Up or with Nuts from Demolition Desserts by Elizabeth Falkner (method rewritten)4 oz (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature 6 1/4 oz (3/4 cup) firmly packed dark brown sugar 4 oz (1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp) white sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon kosher salt 7 oz (1 1/4 cups + 3 Tbsp) all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 8 oz (~1 1/2 cups) bittersweet chocolate, chopped the size of chocolate chips 3 oz (3/4 cup) chopped walnuts, optional Measure butter and sugars into a large bowl and cream with a wooden spoon until smooth but not overmixed. Add egg, vanilla and salt and stir just until fully combined. Sift in flour, baking soda and baking powder and again, stir just until combined. Add the chocolate (and nuts) and stir until evenly distributed. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Scoop even-sized balls onto prepared baking sheets leaving a 2" space between them. Bake until the edges are golden and the center seems barely set, about 13 minutes. Time really depends on the size of your cookies so be attentive to smell and check them. If they aren't done, bake another minute or two. Remove from oven and let set a couple minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. If you happen to have any left you can store them airtight for up to 4 days although I prefer to store them in the freezer to keep them at their best. They thaw in a few minutes but even frozen, they are irresistible. Happy baking! 
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Written by Tina Bacon
Wednesday, September 07 2011 03:47
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