The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a confession to make. I am frequently guilty of making chocolate chip cookies that look more like lumpy pancakes than a favorite treat. For years I ignored the high altitude instructions on the back of the chocolate chip bag because I figured - heck! my cookies are good enough.

Having kids though has raised the stakes. Forget the pat on the back because you didn't burn them and face the fact that if your cookies aren't good the little darlings will flat out say something like - "Um...this tastes funny. Are you sure this is a cookie?"

Thanks to the "fun" feedback, I've invested a great deal of time in making the BEST possible chocolate cookie at a high altitude.

The recipe:

2 sticks butter (because my husband banned margarine from the house)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps water
1 package of chocolate chips

Here's what I did:

Reduced both the brown sugar and white sugar to 2/3 cups
Added to soften sticks of butter (I like to them out until they're room temperature)
Mixed two eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla

Separately I mixed:

2 1/2 cups of flour with 1 tsp baking soda and 2tsps of water

Slowly I added the flour mixture to my eggs/butter/sugar part. After that was throughly mixed I added the chocolate chips.

I baked these cookies for exactly 13 minutes at 375 degrees.

If you are just learning to bake or teaching your child to, make sure you don't repeat my mistakes.

• Measure the flour carefully
• Have your child break the eggs into a separate bowl (in case shells end up in them) and then add them
• Review the instructions for baking time with your child. I didn't with Kenna and she baked one batch for 19 minutes because she misread the bag.

Happy Baking!