Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

A combination of the following tips will never fail to yield moist, tender, soft chocolate chip cookies.

• Substitute cake flour for all purpose flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content and is less likely to develop gluten. You can also use rolled or old-fashioned oats to replace some of the flour.
  
  
• Use brown sugar or a combination of granulated and brown sugar. The molasses in brown sugar provides extra moisture, and tends to yield really soft chocolate chip cookies.

• Replace some of the butter in your chosen recipe with shortening. Shortening, being 100% fat, will trap air cells during creaming and does not promote spreading. As a result, it keeps cookies thick, chewy, and leavened.

• Cream butter or shortening with sugar thoroughly to incorporate adequate air cells.

• Add acidic ingredients such as sour cream, banana, or applesauce. If doing so, remember to neutralize the acid with baking soda.

• Sift dry ingredients together before adding them to a wet mixture. Sifting removes any clumps, makes dry ingredients such as flour light and airy.

• Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for at least a couple of minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

• Do not overbake.

When fresh out of the oven, these soft chocolate chip cookies are heavenly wonderful due to the combined aroma of baked banana, roasted pecan pieces, chocolate chips, and oats.

Bananas have more flavor when they are beginning to turn brown, especially when a few black spots are visible on their skin.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

• Combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and set aside.

• Cream softened butter and sugars (both brown and granulated) until light and fluffy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Beat in egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
  
  

  
  

• Gently stir in flour mixture, one-third at a time, just long enough to blend.

  
  
  

• Fold in chocolate chips, banana pieces, and chopped pecans.
  
  

  
  

• Drop dough by tablespoonful onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing about 2" apart. For uniformed shaping, you can used No. 64 ice cream scoop.
  
  

• Bake for about 10 - 13 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown on the bottom. Please DO NOT OVERBAKE.

• Allow to cool on cookie sheets for about 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
  
  

  
  
  

• This recipe yields about 3 dozens soft chocolate chip cookies. Keep them in air tight containers at room temperature for up to one week.

This wonderful recipe for soft chocolate chip cookies is adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle.

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