Soft Cake-Like Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know how you sometimes make mistakes when baking? Like you run out of an ingredient? Like you already started making a batch of cookies before you realized you didn't have enough all-purpose flour? Well, that happened to me yesterday. And it was the best mistake I ever made! I have been making the same Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Pillsbury for years! They have always been so good! However, they are now better than ever before because of my mishap in the kitchen yesterday. I had the urge to bake chocolate chip cookies yesterday. I usually keep all of the ingredients I would need for this on hand at all times. (like any good baker should) I got the kids helping and we started mixing! We mixed the sugars, butter, vanilla and eggs... then came the flour. I opened my flour canister and knew right away that we did not have 4 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour... I know, it calls for a lot. So I started measuring and we ended up with 3 1/4 cups. I decided to add a cup of self-rising flour in place of the all-purpose flour... ingenious! The cookies puffed up so much more and have more of a cake-like texture to them but are still incredibly soft! Best mistake ever! Here is the new recipe!

Soft Cake-Like Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 5 Dozen

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened (I recommend unsalted stick butter)

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup self-rising flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 (12 oz) packages semi-sweet chocolate chips (I added a few white chocolate chips)

In a large bowl, beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy (very important that you get to the "light and fluffy" state. Otherwise they will not rise as well). Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flours, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours or overnight. (If you do it overnight you may need to remove your dough about 30 minutes prior. The dough will be too stiff for your cookie scoop and it may break your scoop... I know this from experience.) Use a cookie scoop to measure and shape your dough. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes (I bake mine for 5 minutes and then flip the tray around and bake for an additional 5 minutes to ensure they bake evenly.) You want them lightly browned. Let cool on pan for 2 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely... or grab one and dunk it in some cold milk while it is still hot! HEAVENLY!