1 cup salted butter + 3 tablespoons salted butter, all softened
1 cup sugar (I prefer C&H Bakers sugar)
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
½-1 teaspoon imitation vanilla(optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (I prefer Dr. Oetker, see more about this ingredient below)
¼ teaspoon butter flavor (I prefer McCormick)
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup toasted walnuts
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In another large bowl, cream the butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until it begins to get fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add both sugars and vanilla sugar. Beat until very fluffy, like the texture of whipped cream, about 5 minutes. Beat the eggs in a measuring cup. Add the water, vanilla (both if using) and the butter flavor to the eggs and mix. Drizzle the eggs slowly into the butter/sugar mixture, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time. After all the eggs are incorporated scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure the dough is well blended. Stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Don’t over-mix the dough.
Chill the dough. This is essential so that the cookies spread thinly, but not too thinly. Chilling also helps relax the gluten and develops the flavor.
To drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet, I use a small scoop from Pampered Chef that holds about 1 ½ tablespoons (it’s their small scoop). Alternatively, you can use two tablespoons. Drop the cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake them for 10 minutes and rotate the sheet.
Now this is where the recipe really goes off the grid. The “original” recipe calls to bake the cookies 12 minutes. In my home oven (and likely most home ovens) this is not enough time to adequately brown and consequently crisp the cookies. I usually bake 10 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake another 6-10 minutes. Please see below for an example. The cookies must be fully baked through with no moisture remaining in the middle so that they are light and crispy. They are done when they are dark brown on the edges and medium brown throughout. Remove the ciookies from the oven and quickly transfer to a wire rack. This keeps steam from being trapped between the cookies and the sheet. Cool on the racks until completely cool. You can keep the cookies for up to a week. My preferred method of storing is in a cookie tin. Layer the cookies with parchment paper in between. They stay crisp for at least a week.
Recipe by The Pretzel Girl at https://www.thepretzelgirl.com/my-copycat-of-tates-chocolate-chip-cookies/