Never Underestimate the Value of Chocolate Chip Cookies With These Tips
There’s something so comforting about a homemade chocolate chip cookie.
The season of giving is upon us and there’s no better time to start spreading the cheer to family, friends, and neighbors. Hip2Save reader, Christy, has a very simple way to let the ones around her know she cares—through a batch of classic chocolate chip cookies.
Check out her tips for baking and gifting below:
When I’m trying to come up with a gift for large groups, people who are hard to shop for (like my in-laws), or just a fool-proof gift, my homemade chocolate chip cookies always do the trick!
Here are some of the tips I’ve learned through baking a countless number of batches:
Customize based on the season. I usually add cranberries in the winter or use festive colored M&Ms for Easter or Valentine’s Day. You could even chop up leftover Halloween candy (or a pack that’s on sale) to make use of all those sweets!
Buy in bulk to save on cost. I make cookies so often that I’ve started to buy my supplies in bulk from Sam’s Club so I’ve always got lots of flour, sugar, and chocolate chips on hand… and for cheap!
Keep the recipe simple. I use the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip bag and everyone raves about it. (Get the recipe here)
Make sure you use real butter as well—it makes all the difference! Keep in mind, the recipe yields a lot of cookies so you can split the batch among recipients or give it to a big group. Or freeze the leftover dough to gift at a later time (within 3 months).
Use a baking stone if you have one. The thick stone slab will help distribute the heat evenly and really crisp up the cookies on the underside. You’ll also want to take the cookies out of the oven right when they start browning slightly as they’ll finish baking on the stone after.
Label any allergens for your recipients. I like to indicate “no nuts” so those who have allergies can enjoy with peace of mind. Adversely, make sure you clearly mark any batches that do contain ingredients with common allergens.
Gift the cookies in festive containers. I like to stock up on cute tins or baked good boxes during holiday clearance sales to gift the cookies in. You can also check dollar stores for inexpensive gifting containers. You can give the cookies on their own or along with a gift card, flowers, or whatever you desire.
The most important tip!
Don’t forget to save a couple of cookies for yourself and your family! 🤗
What a sweet idea! 🍪
It’s a simple, yet thoughtful way to show those around you that you care. Thank you, Christy, for sharing this tasty gifting idea with us. Is it just me or does anyone else have a hankering for chocolate chip cookies?! 😆
HAPPY FRIDAY!
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Make this versatile dough for 3 different Christmas cookie variations!
That recipe is our favorite as well!
I second that !
That wire basket is so cute to display them, but would be such a good idea to include when gifting the cookies to those hard to buy for.
I work in an office and spend a LOT of time on the phone with people in other offices, all over the state, making arrangements for the work we’re doing. Every year, I make a huge batch of cookies and then put together little packages and drive around the week before Christmas delivering little treats to many of the offices where I talk to people all year. I also get little individually wrapped candies, like Hershey’s kisses or bells, and sprinkle those among the cookies to add a little festive color (and who doesn’t love chocolate?).
Everyone is always really glad to receive a little treat and it’s nice to put faces to the voices I talk to all year. I often say that I think the reason everyone is always so willing to work with me when issues come up during the year is because I’m not just a disembodied voice on the phone.
Great post. I absolutely LOVE homemade chocolate chip cookies.
I get rave reviews for my choc chip cookies and my pb cookies from the kitchenaid mixer cookbook.
The baking stone is sold out in every zip code I tried across the country.
You don’t need to buy the one mentioned in the post. Any will do, and you can find them almost anywhere now: Target has half a dozen options online, Walmart has four, Amazon has pages of them. Bigger grocery stores even carry them in store now.
I’d add another tip for perfect cookies: weigh ingredients rather than using measuring cups. Scales usually come with a list of conversions and if you weigh all your ingredients, you’ll soon memorize the most common ones and seriously reduce dirty dishes when cooking. You can also adjust cookie texture with butter and shortening. All butter results in crispy cookies (which are INCREDIBLE frozen), shortening keeps them soft and chewy. Three parts butter to one part shortening makes for cookie nirvana: crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Gotta have the Ghirardelli chips in mine,… 60%. Lol
I’m known for my chocolate chip cookies. Everyone thinks its a secret recipe but its actually the one on the package of Crisco sticks!
We never know how many trick or treaters we will have and this year was only 20! We have so much candy left over that I’ll have to try using some of it in cookies. I’ll save the M&M mini packets for Christmas cookies. They work well for eyes on snowmen cookies and ornaments on tree cookies.
I’ve always used premium flour like Bob’s red mill or King Arthur unbleached flour, I’ve noticed it makes a huge difference with homemade bread so it’s the only flour I buy and It works great with cookies too. Also, I always underbake mine by a minute or so and let them finish cooking on my stone. I agree with using a stone, I have three and it really makes a difference, escpecially with my thick sugar cookies, everyone begs for them. They are so soft, fluffy and thick they taste good even without frosting, but I frost them anyways because who can pass up a big fat frosted soft sugar cookie, lol! Try using a premuim flour and you’ll see a difference too.