Who doesn’t love a perfect chocolate chip cookie?

This week’s Monday’s Momma, Lorrin from Hello Sister Love, has a super yummy recipe for a cookie I can’t wait to try.

Read on & learn more about Lorrin too!

A well known fact about me is that I am a terrible baker. I am just not good at it. I am (if I do say so myself) a pretty good cook, but when it comes to baking, I stink. That, of course, does NOT mean that I don’t like a baked good. I definitely have a sweet tooth, and that was clearly inherited by all four of my children. I love cake, and brownies, and cookies, but chocolate chip cookies are my all-time favorite. You can pretty much ask anyone that has ever seen me eat, and they’ll tell you that I love cream cheese. During one visit to my sister Amber’s house, they generously brought us panera bagels for breakfast complete with one large tub of cream cheese for all of us to share.  Stone-faced and as serious as I could be, I asked, “is that all the cream cheese? I mean, this is for all of us?” They teased me, but I was so serious. I like a little bagel with my cream cheese.  Needless to say, this is pretty much the perfect combination for me.

Since I stink at baking, I didn’t even know such a combination even existed. Then, at Christmas, Amber asked me to come and bake Christmas cookies (this means, I watch her bake and talk- a lot–  I like to talk… and then, I eat the cookies she made by herself). She only had time to make one kind of cookie before I headed home to pick up things 1 and 2. Lucky for me, they were cream cheese chocolate chip cookies, and they were insanely good– and completely devoured by myself, and things 3 and 4 before we even made it home.

I’ve been dreaming about them ever since.

On Saturday, despite my lack of baking skills, I decided to make my own batch. I modified a couple of recipes that I had seen to come up with this one. It is the perfect amount of chewy and cake-like. Chocolate chip cookies are hands down the most subjective cookies. Everyone has a different opinion of what makes a chocolate chip cookie the best. Amber and I actually have very different preferences in our chocolate chip cookies (with exception of the chocolate–we both like ‘em overloaded with semi-sweet goodness!). She likes hers fluffy and more cake-like, and I like mine kind of flat and chewy, with just the right amount of crunchiness.

These are PERFECT!!  Not too cake-like, not too flat, just a pinch of saltiness, so many chocolate chips, and just the right amount of cream cheese flavor (even if you aren’t as obsessed with it as I am!).  If I was able to bake these, anyone can make them!

So, here is the recipe..

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 cup of margarine

1/2 cup of cream cheese

3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar (i used splenda)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

4 cups of semisweet chocolate chips (that’s 2- 12 ounce bags, and I used a bag of halloween chips- that’s why there were orange chips in there. Next time, I will use one bag of regular and one of mini chips. Obviously, how much you add is completely up to you.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Soften, but don’t melt, margarine and cream cheese. Beat margarine, cream cheese, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one, gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop batter by tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. I like to drop mine without rounding them, because I just like them to look “messy” and imperfect.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Take them out of the oven, and let them cool! Then, eat ‘em up!

About Lorrin: Lorrin is a wife and mama to 4 awesome, and exhausting kiddos.  She is a Baptist, a dreamer, a procrastinator, a planner, a cook, a hockey mom, a soccer mom, a dog lover, a Florida baby and Pennsylvanian, a flip-flop wearer, boot lovin’, business owner and photographer.  She’s loud, loves the beach and hates the snow.  Most nights, she falls into bed, and thanks God for the chance to sit down.  There isn’t a day that goes by though, that she doesn’t realize how blessed she is, and she wouldn’t change a thing.   Her blog, Hello Sister Love, is a place for Lorrin and her sister, Amber, to share mommy moments.  Lorrin & Amber “keep it real” with their heartfelt, genuine posts, and hopefully, make life a little more fun, and a little chaotic with easy-to-do crafts and recipes.  Hello Sister Love gives old, and new mommies alike, a place to go to laugh, learn, and, most importantly, remember they are not alone!