Cookies!!! err...cookie bars

As it is stated in my Welcome, I am purely amateur at all of this...and it becomes more apparent with each baking adventure.

I decided to make some basic chocolate chip cookies from a recipe from Martha Stewart Living magazine for a cook-out.  Now first things first: I do not own a stand mixer, I want one badly but for now I have to deal with just a regular handmixer.  I was told this should be perfectly okay and perhaps it would have been if I had any idea just exactly how old my inherited cruddy handmixer was...

So during the process of creaming the butter and sugars together the handmixer just couldn't take the stress any more and it slowed to a halt and made terrible grinding sounds and then smoke began to rise from it's vents...I'm a murderer! I should have known that the little junker was on it's last spin.  None the less I finished mixing the cookies by hand and spatula (perfectly efficient way of doing it just makes you really tired!).  Scooped them up and put them on a pan and then into the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.  And what I got was a single giant flat super crunchy cookie.  It still tasted pretty good, but was for sure way too ugly looking to bring to a party.

So I went looking for a new recipe also from Martha Stewart (but this one was on her online site and not the magazine).  Big difference!!!  Complete success; I brought these to a friend's birthday party and they were pretty much all devoured quickly.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from Martha Stewart 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  

3.Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week (yeah, if they even last that long).