Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies, and who doesn’t have a favorite recipe, whether its a classic right from the bag of chips, or an old stand-bye handed down from mom. There are hundreds of variations to choose from, that suit every taste. Every taste except mine, that is. My family and friends know I’m picky when it comes to chocolate, and I’m not a fan of overly-rich chocolate that drowns out everything else, and makes me reach for a glass of milk.

I do love chocolate, but its something I have to be craving to enjoy. My husband, on the other hand, loves chocolate and nothing could ever be too chocolatey for him.; this creates bit of a problem when it comes to the recipe we use in our home. My solution is to separate out some of the dough before adding the chips, so I can have some chipless, and his receive an extra dose of chocolate. He usually turns his nose up at my weird chocolate-less cookies, until one day he grabbed one and to both our surprise, he actually liked it!

I’ve made whole batches completely without chips a few times, but found that the basic recipes can be improved upon as they always seem to rely on the chips for sweetness and flavor. This lead to some experimentation until I came up with what I think is a good, basic chipless recipe, and you can add nuts, cinnamon or butterscotch chips, raisins, dried berries, or tweak the base recipe with nutmeg or other flavors!

Chocolate Chipless Cookies
makes 4 – 5 dozen depending on size

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt (I use coarse sea salt)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I make my own)
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375’F/190’C

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream softened butter and both sugars together until creamy. Add the vanilla extract and mix. Add the eggs one at a time making sure they are well beaten. Gradually blend the flour mixture until well combined.

Drop rounded teaspoon balls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for for a minute, remove and place on wire rack to cool.

*Variations and add-ons
If you want to add chips, nuts, or dried berries please see below for amounts.

Chips: 1-2 cups
Nuts: 1 cup
Dried berries (cranberries): 1/2-1cup