When life gives you lemons (or maybe butter), make the Gaines family's favorite chocolate chip cookies.
Chip and Joanna Gaines, with their five kids, ages 1 to 15, have found some fun ways to stay sane and savor the extra — albeit mandated — family bonding during this unprecedented time.
Stationed in her home kitchen, Joanna Gaines whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies from her first cookbook, "Magnolia Table," catered to the preferences of her little ones.
"With life looking quite a bit different than we’re all used to, our @magnolia family is looking for ways to focus on how we can make the most of our time spent at home, because honestly there's no better place to be right now — and in the midst of all that's going on, we believe that there is room for connection, creativity, laughter, and inspiration," Gaines wrote on her Instagram.
In the cooking demo, filmed by the Gaines' eldest son, Drake, 15, Gaines dished up some secrets to getting the cookies just right — that is, equal parts chewy and fluffy.
And it's all about the butter.
"Typically butter makes for a flatter cookie. I use real butter and I don't soften it completely, like overnight," she explained. "I like it to be a little bit chilled still — even though it's soft and it kind of gets clumpy. Those clumps of butter actually work really well in this recipe. It makes them fluffy and chewy, which I think the kids really like."
Get The Recipe
Joanna Gaines' Strawberry Shortcake
Joanna Gaines
Gaines uses brown sugar because it contains molasses, which makes the cookies more moist and chewy, whereas white sugar caramelizes and makes cookies more brown and crisp.
While we're champing at the bit to whip up a batch of these cookies (hey, we may even start now), this delicious dessert isn't the only fun fans can have with the Gaineses this week.
"So here’s what we’re gonna do: for the next few days, we’re going to share a new challenge and/or activity that we can all get in on together and share," the cookbook author posted.
They also want to see what their followers are cooking while staying at home. Gaines asked folks at the end of the video to post their own videos on Instagram as posts or stories with the tag @magnolia and #webelieveinhome.
Joanna Gaines' Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 stick softened butter (left at room temperature about an hour, still a little chilled)
- 2 eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla
- 2½ cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 bag chocolate chips
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the brown sugar and butter to a stand mixer and beat on low spread until well combined but still chunky. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue to mix.
- Next add the flour, salt and baking soda. Start on low speed, increase to medium and then to high speed and allow to mix until ingredients are well combined
- Add the chocolate chips and mix for a few seconds on medium to high speed.
- Spoon or place cookies about one inch apart (about 12 dollops) on baking sheet lined with wax paper and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
Optional: For a heartier dessert, spread an even layer of the cookie dough into one or two mini-cast iron pans, bake and top with your favorite vanilla ice cream.
Erica Chayes Wida
Erica Chayes Wida is an award-winning journalist, food writer and recipe editor who helmed a local newspaper before joining TODAY's freelance team. A mother of two, she loves singing, collecting old vinyl and, of course, cooking. Erica is forever on a worldwide quest to find the best ham and cheese croissant and brainstorms best over a sauce pot of bubbling pasta sauce. Her work has been featured on BBC Travel, Saveur, Martha Stewart Living and PopSugar. Follow along onInstagram.
FAQs
Bake until lightly browned on top, 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on the pan on a rack for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.
What's the short story behind the first chocolate chip cookies where and when were they made? ›
Toll House cookie
The most notable chocolate chip cookie recipe was invented by American chef Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938. She invented the recipe during the period when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts.
What is in cowboy cookies? ›
As with most things in Texas, Bush's Cowboy Cookies are enormous and wholly stuffed with so many mix-ins: oats, coconut, pecans, and of course, chocolate chips. They're sure to win over any crowd.
Can you use bread flour for cookies? ›
Bread Flour In Cookies
Bread flour can be substituted for all-purpose in any cookie recipe for which a chewy texture is the goal. And you can substitute all of the all-purpose for bread, or just a portion of it (you do you, in other words).
Why do my homemade chocolate chip cookies get hard? ›
Cookies aren't cake, they have a lot more sugar. All that sugar liquifies as they bake. If you bake out all the moisture until they feel like a done cake, you are left with rock hard cookies when the sugar cools down and re-solidifies.
When should I take my chocolate chip cookies out of the oven? ›
In an oven preheated to 350 degrees F, the chocolate chip cookies should be perfectly baked in about 10 minutes. The edges should be golden brown and the cookies should be mostly set (they'll continue to set as the cool).
Which cookies was invented as an accident? ›
The chocolate chip cookie was created by accident.
In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, added broken chocolate bar pieces into her cookie batter thinking that they would melt. Instead, the classic dessert was born.
What cookie was invented in 1938 by accident? ›
Circa 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield added chopped up bits from a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar into a cookie. The chocolate chip cookie was invented by American chefs Ruth Graves Wakefield and Sue Brides in 1938. She invented the recipe during the period when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts.
How was the chocolate chip cookie an accident? ›
There are several variations on this origin myth: that Wakefield ran out of nuts and substituted chocolate instead; that she somehow managed to spill a jar of chopped chocolate into a finished bowl of dough (this, in turn, was sometimes attributed to a mixer run amok); that she ran out of time to melt chocolate to add ...
What dessert did cowboys eat? ›
The lunch and dinner meals included roast beef, boiled potatoes, beans, brown gravy, bread or biscuits and coffee. Dessert consisted of dried fruit pies, stewed dried fruit and spiced cake made without butter or eggs. These items would be cooked in a Dutch oven or skillet over hot coals.”
OVEN IS TOO HOT
Oven temperatures are a crucial factor in baking. If your cookies consistently come out flat, you may have selected the wrong baking temperature. If you bake cookies using too much heat, the fats in the dough begin to melt before the other ingredients can cook together and form your cookie's rise.
What are McDonald's cookies made of? ›
Ingredients: Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (sugar, Unsweetened Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor), Enriched Flour (bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Margarine (palm Oil, Water, Soybean Oil, Salt, Whey, Natural Flavor ...
What is the best flour for chocolate chip cookies? ›
Whenever you're wondering what type of flour to choose when baking chocolate chip cookies, the safest answer is always all-purpose flour. It will always provide you with the desired results, ensuring your cookies go out of the oven just as you imagined them.
What does butter do in cookies? ›
The job of butter in baking (besides being delicious) is to give richness, tenderness and structure to cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. We alter the way butter works in a recipe by changing its temperature and choosing when to combine it with the other ingredients.
Do you bake chocolate chip cookies at 350 or 375? ›
Bake at 375 degrees F until golden and tender, 12 to 15 minutes.
Are chocolate chip cookies better at 325 or 350? ›
350° is the standard temp for a cookie, and it's a great one. Your cookies will bake evenly and the outside will be done at the same time as the inside. Baking at 325° also results in an evenly baked cookie, but the slower cooking will help yield a chewier cookie. The outsides will be a little softer, too.
What temperature is best for baking chocolate chip cookies? ›
Cookie temperatures fluctuate, with some recipes as low as 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and a few as high as 425 degrees Fahrenheit, but most recipes land on 375 or 350 to evenly bake the entirety of the cookie.
What temperature are chocolate chip cookies done? ›
Once you reach a temp where those things are accomplished, your cookie is done! Chocolate chip cookies are done between 175 and 185°F (79 and 85°C). With a good thermometer, you can play with the doneness and note your preferred temperature in your recipe.
