Homestyle Chocolate Chunk Cookies - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks or 12 ounces chips
8 -10 ounces chopped macadamia nuts (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375\u00b0F.
Grease cookie sheets.
Separate eggs. Bring butter to room temperature.
Combine all ingredients except chocolate and egg whites.
Mix well.
Stir in chocolate (and nuts if you like).
Roll in 1 1/2\" balls and place on cookie sheet.
Flatten balls to 3/8\" (Yes, they are pretty thick. They don't spread much.).
Brush with beaten egg white. Don't skip this step as it creates the distinctive crackly top.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until just starting to brown on the edges. I find baking a single sheet in the top third of the oven gives the best results. They tend to burn on the bottom if baked lower in the oven.
Cool on the sheets 1-2 minutes until firm enough to move to racks for cooling.
Alternate preparation method: Roll the dough into a 2 1/2 \" diameter log. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or freeze for up to several weeks. Before baking, thaw if frozen. Cut into slices 3/8\" thick. Brush with egg white and bake as above.