Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another day, another chocolate chip cookie recipe, right?

There are so many chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. And I love trying them all. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite, the gold chip standard. I love them so much they are almost synonymous with the word cookie, for me. So when I found this recipe, there was no hesitation. I knew I must try it.

I was a little skeptical at first because this recipe, first of all, has no egg. I've never made chocolate chip cookies without egg. Isn't the egg the binder, and doesn't the yolk make the cookies chewy? That was my line of thinking. Second, I've never made cookies with cream cheese. I wasn't sure how that was going to work. As it turns out, all the worry was for naught...

The cookies turned out fantastic! I was extremely pleased. I will let you know that there are a couple of differences between these and regular chocolate chip cookies and they are as follows:

1. Density- I'm not sure if the addition of the cream cheese makes these heavier, but these are more solid than the traditional variety. If I had to make a scientific guess as to why, it would that regular cookies are lighter due to the creaming of the butter and sugar. That is entirely a guess. But, there is no creaming with these cookies...

2. Texture- These cookies have more of a cake-y texture than a chewy, crumbly texture. Again, is this due to the lack of egg? Perhaps. I enjoyed the texture, it reminded me of store bought cookies. I'm now left wondering if store-bought chocolate chip cookies are made without egg? Some people don't like a cake-y cookie, but I believe there is a time and a place for everything. And I like variety. I don't want the same cookie every time.

How'd the masses like my cookies? Everyone who had them loved them. I only had one critic, and their opinion was these tasted too much like store-bought. I wasn't put off by this. I took it as saying, "Your cookies taste too professional". Hehe.

We are having a great time with the brother and his wife. Yesterday was kind of a rest day, with everyone pretty tired from travel. We did venture out to the local brew pub in the afternoon, for locally crafted beers and pizza. Yummers!  I'm not sure what's on tap for today, but I'm sure us crazy kids will get into something :)

Happy Thursday!

Ingredients (makes 2 dozen large-scoop cookies):

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chops

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325º. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cookie spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, and sugars. Mix with an electric mixture until completely combined, 1-2 minutes. Mix in vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, salt, and flour. Whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet. Mix until well combined. Using a spatula, fold in chocolate chips.

4. Using a large cookie scoop, drop cookies onto cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. I baked 9 cookies to a sheet, they don't spread a crazy amount. In fact, you may even want to flatten the cookies a tiny bit before you put them in the oven. Bake for 9-13 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven, and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from sheet, cool on a cooling rack until completely cool. Store in an airtight container. 

Recipe adapted from The Farm Girl Recipes.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Cunning Ladies' Friday Party.