Tasty Tuesday - The Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ever

This recipe came from Kim, who got it from a cousin. I've always liked a good chocolate chip cookie now and again, but these things have caused a serious addiction.

I've had the recipe for a few months now, and I actually keep several dozen on hand in the freezer at all times. It's very handy for when you have unexpected guests, or unexpected sweet cravings.

The World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ever

1 cup (2 sticks) soft butter... YOU HAVE TO USE BUTTER! THIS IS THE KEY!!!
1/2 cup of sugar
1-1/2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2-1/2 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 12. oz bags of MILK chocolate chips (not semi-sweet!)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Add chips and stir.

With fingers, place golf-ball size dough portions 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 9 minutes or until edges are light brown... but don't exceed cooking time.

A few notes: I copied this recipe straight from Kim's email. But I don't follow her directions exactly. I do usually use milk chocolate chips, but I think they are still good with semi-sweet- and I don't usually have a 1/2 bag of chips laying around, so just one bag per batch. Also, I don't actually sift the dry ingredients together. Just lazy I guess.

These cookies are very delicate (maybe because they're mostly butter?), so I've found that in order to keep them from totally falling apart, even when cool, I have to cook them for 10 minutes in my oven. I also leave them on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes after removing them from the oven, and then move them to a wire rack to cool absolutely completely before freezing or moving them to a plate to serve.