Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

The night of the election I was just a little anxious about the presidential race and needed something to busy my hands. Baking has always been the best way to calm my nerves.

I took a chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cooks Illustration and added booze. I know right, everything is better with booze! These cookies are just delicious and absolute perfection!

I made mine thick because I like them soft in the center and crispy on the edge. But the recipe is totally versitle you can add nuts, white chocolate chips, or whatever you have on hand.

This is not my first dabbling with Irish Cream and baking. In fact its my to-go booze for baking. Hmmm, that sounds like the name of a good cookbook.... Anyway, if you like booze in your baked goods check out these delicious Irish Cream Brownies and my favorite pound cake, Chocolate Chip Irish Cream Pound Cake.

Irish Cream Chocolate Chip CookiesRecipe modified from cook's illustrated

Ingredients:
2-1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp Irish Cream
1-2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (semi or bittersweet)

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, vanilla, and Irish Cream. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)
Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

Makes 18-20 large (3-inch) cookies. Enjoy!

Note: To ensure a chewy texture, leave the cookies on the cookie sheet to cool.