Sometimes you just need a homemade cookie. Every family has one perfect cookie recipe that fills the house with the smell of baking butter and sugar and fills our hearts with joy. That just like so-and-so used to bake cookie magic that will cure any bad day.

In our house, that recipe is for chocolate chip cookies. Dotted with just the right about of semi-sweet chocolate and roasted walnuts. The perfect balance of sweet and salty, chewy and crunchy.  Soft in the center with a perfectly crisp edge just begging to be dunked in a glass of ice cold milk.

These cookies (the recipe originally adapted from Crisco) are one of the first things my hubby ever baked for me when we first began dating in college. Back in the days we lived near the coast and were always planning our next adventure. Everyday was filled with sunshine, every car floor was filled with sand, and the only pair of shoes you ever needed was your favorite Rainbows or Reefs.  My hair was always wavy and wild with ocean salt and my feet where always bare. My honey only ever wore shorts and always had a perfect flip-flop tan. Your grandma’s cookies may be filled with love, but mine are filled with adventure and sunshine.

What makes these chocolate chip cookies stand apart from similar recipes is the ingredients. Most recipes sweeten their cookies with half granulated sugar, half brown sugar. This recipe contains only brown sugar. It gives the cookies a unique caramel color and adds a slight toffee taste to your cookie.

Remember not to let your butter sit out on the counter for too long before you start making your cookies. If you butter is too warm or starts to melt, it won’t cream well with the sugar and your cookies will spread thin and easily become too hard or burnt in the oven.

The lovely caramel color of these cookies can trick you into thinking they have finished baking early. I recommend lightly pressing the top center of a cookie with your finger when you think they are done. If it depresses easily, they need a little more time.

Enjoy!