Janet's Old Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

My sister is an excellent baker and food photographer. She used to work at a famous bakery in Manhattan known for its cupcakes with outrageous amounts of butter in the frosting, cupcakes which were once featured on SNL.

But a secret they didn't and still don't tell anyone (not even buyers of their cookbook), is that in the actually bakery they use no flour. They have buckets and buckets of Aunt Jemima's pancake mix. (Watch they'll find this comment and sue me. Ha ha, bakery, I leave you anonymous!) But pancake mix, especially Aunt Jemima's, is already salted and leavened perfectly. "Perfectly" meaning it's made to please the masses of everyday consumers.

Anyway, this is my sister's recipe, which I hope she doesn't mind me sharing. I've used this recipe for years, even though she's long ago moved on to even more "perfect" cookie recipes. She is too far ahead of me in the world of gourmet anyway, and I don't even try to keep up.

But the keys to a perfect chocolate chip cookie, which I learned from Janet, are

1) quality butter set out to soften--not margarine or oil. And please do not microwave; it means you're not a conscientious baker (which I'm not--you'll catch me with butter in the microwave), and--

2) not to over-bake for that perfect warm chewy effect. Even slightly overbaking leads to the rock hard cookie.

So here's the recipe:
(I hope I'm remembering this right off the top of my head):

1 Cup White Flour (to calm down slightly salty pancake mix)
1 Cup Aunt Jemima's (or generic buttermilk pancake mix)
1¼ (or 1⅓?) sticks softened butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg. Mix in flour and pancake mix. Add chocolate chips. Roll in little balls and smush a little into cookie shape. Bake 350 for 9-11 minutes.

Photo by Live♥Laugh♥Love