Years ago Matt and I discovered Toll House refrigerated cookie dough. We’d savor it over the course of a week, baking just four pre-made dough discs at a time and enjoying warm cookies fresh from the oven each night.

At some point we realized that we could duplicate (nay, improve upon!) this experience by making and freezing our own homemade cookie dough. No pre-made Toll House discs needed! Now I always keep a stock of frozen dough on hand and we treat ourselves to freshly baked cookies whenever we want.

These homemade cookies are in a totally different league than those old pre-made Toll House cookie dough discs. The bittersweet chocolate chips are melty and rich, the cookie is crisp and flavorful, and the coconut flakes are a pleasant surprise.

Since March I’ve probably made ten batches of these cookies. I struggled with finding some ingredients during the COVID-19 shutdown, so now I’ve accumulated a small stockpile of King Arthur flour, Crisco and Ghirardelli chocolate chips just in case. That may sound a little crazy, but try these cookies and you’ll immediately understand why I’ve become a cookie ingredient hoarder. 😁

Tips:
•  Use King Arthur Brand All Purpose Flour for the recipe. I used other brands during Quarantine and the texture of the cookies wasn’t quite right… a little too soft and wet.
•  A kitchen scale makes measuring the dry ingredients super easy. I weigh out the sugars directly into my mixing bowl and the flour into its own small bowl. No measuring cups required! I use and recommend this scale.
•  I mix in the flour, chocolate chips and coconut by hand because adding flour to my KitchenAid mixer always seems to result in a mini flour explosion and mixing by hand is not difficult. But by all means, feel free to use your stand mixer for the final mixing steps if you prefer!
•  For more information on why I refrigerate the cookie dough for 48 hours before freezing it, read this Chilling Cookie Dough article from KAF.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from King Arthur Flour; makes approx. 20 cookies

Ingredients
142g (2/3 c) Brown Sugar
131g (2/3 c) Granulated Sugar
1 stick (1/2 c) Unsalted Butter (straight from the fridge is fine)
1/2 stick (1/2 c) Crisco Vegetable Shortening Stick
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Egg
241g (2 c) King Arthur All Purpose Flour
1 bag (10 oz) Ghirardelli Bittersweet Baking Chips (60% Cacao)
Handful of Shredded Coconut Flakes, Optional

Directions
Combine Brown Sugar through Cider Vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on medium speed until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Add the egg and mix for 30 seconds or until well combined.

Remove the mixing bowl from the stand mixer. Using a spatula, mix in the Flour by hand until well combined. Stir in the Chocolate Chips and Coconut, if using. Transfer the dough to a sealed storage container and refrigerate for 48 hours.

To make cookies immediately or straight from the fridge, form cookies into golf-ball-sized balls and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 8 minutes before serving.

To freeze the cookie dough, leave the dough in the refrigerator for 48 hours, then form the dough into approximately 20 golf-ball-sized cookie balls. Freeze dough balls.

To make cookies directly from the freezer, bake frozen dough in a preheated 350° oven for 18 1/2 minutes. Allow to cool for 8 minutes before serving.