Thanks, Annie for taking the time to post that for me. I've never been a chocolate chip cookie person, but grands are and I mess them up every time. Maybe this recipe will be the lucky one for me.

Liz

Liz, perhaps some tricks from an expert will help? He just uses the old version of the Toll House recipe from the Nestle's bag, but the nuance makes people clamor for his cookies. First, the fat will affect the texture. Butter (100% butter sticks) will give a more meltaway cookie and be somewhat crisper. Margarine (his preferred) must be sticks labeled for baking and have 100 Calories per tbsp. While it's firmer, it also gives chewier cookies, as does the teaspoon of water from the old recipe. Sugar must be cane. Beet sugar makes the cookies weird and bad. The most important thing is the bake: Flatten the scoops or balls somewhat, and bake until the edges are firm and starting to brown, but the center is still under. Cool on racks, letting them finish cooking on the sheet, than transfer from the sheet to the rack to firm up and removed excess moisture. The expert says most people way overbake their chocolate chip cookies. They should be done, not rocks. :) Annie's recipe is a bit different, but I think most of this still applies. Good luck!

Yum! Must... resist... the... urge... to... bake... these! Argggh!

YUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!

I find that the Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe often needs another tablespoon or two of flour.

Lizbeth, you are more than welcome. I hope this recipe is the "magic" one for you, but even if it's not, well, they're still cookies and how can that be bad? :-)

plllog, normally I use butter, but this one called for half butter, half shortening. Normally I'd ignore that and use butter, but Grandma's Chewy Molasses cookies require half shortening or they don't turn out right, so I followed the recipe and used half shortening/half butter.

I didn't flatten them at all, left them just as they came out of the cookie scoop, they would have been thin and crisp if I'd have flattened them, I think.

I always use cane sugar, gave up beet sugar (although it's local and that hurt me) because of the GMOs. I also liked the little bit of flavor from the almond extract. I'm not a huge fan of CC cookies, but I used extra dark chips and they were better, plus the half-and-half ratio of brown sugar and white sugar helped keep them chewy.

And, as you noted, I was very careful to not overbake, that's the most common reason cookies don't stay chewy.

Ricky, those look pretty darned good. Mine are all gone, I suppose I should make some more.....

Sheila, like you I always added about 1/4 cup of flour to the Toll House Cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag.

AKgirl, have a cookie, you know you want one. They're great for breakfast. (grin)

Annie

Annie - I didn't have any shortening in the pantry, so mine are all butter. They flattened out much more than yours and I guess that's why. They're tasty but I prefer the texture of a Mrs. Fields recipe chocolate chip cookie. Suzi loves them though, and that's all that counts.

I'm clearly chiming in the middle of this, so if these suggestions are not appropriate, please ignore. If these chocolate chip cookies are the only baking challenges in your kitchen, please ignore. But if not, here are a few other tips to consider. Measure carefully, either weighing ingredients or carefully fluffin, sifting, etc. as required pre-measuring. Level off scoops witha flat blade. Baking is chemistry and an extra half cup of an ingredient (or even teaspoons if it's leavening, flavoring, etc.) can cause a huge shift in results. Be aware that substitutions may cause different effects, no matter how well-suited they might seem.

I suspect that the King Arthur recipe is "flatter" than the original Toll House recipe I use. It contains baking soda as leavening and vinegar and brown sugar to provide acid for it to "work". My Toll House recipe uses double acting baking soda, which works in the heat of the oven. By the time you get the first sheet of cookies baked and the second sheet ( or the third) into the oven, the oomph has gone and they are mostly unleavened.
I finally figured that issue out with a sugar cookie recipe so I left the leavening out altogether.

LindaC, don't you mean double acting baking powder, not soda? That's what's in my original Toll House Cookie recipe.

These were about the same thickness and the same chewiness as my Toll House recipe, with crispy edges and chewy middles, but the flavor was a bit different, probably because of the almond extract. And the brown sugar made them a bit more "caramel-y" than my usual ratio of white to brown sugar.

This was a good recipe, the texture was right and the flavor was nice. There were 249 reviews, mostly 5 stars. I agree with them.

Annie

Years and years ago a friend introduced me to a recipe that used shortening, 1/2 brown and 1/2 white sugar and baking powder. Those cookies were always a hit! The texture was perfect and always a big seller at school bake sales. Annie's recipe with vinegar is pretty intriguing, I might have to check that out. BTW I don't like Nestle's semi sweet chocolate chips. I think Guittard's or even Trader Joe's are better tasting. The darker the chocolate, the better!

It sounds like the half butter/half shortening comes out similarly to the expert's margarine. :) The butter probably helps with the initial spreading. I wish Grainlady were here to confirm these notions. :(