Every homemaker should have a signature chocolate chip cookie. A signature cookie defines you as a cook. As a homemaker. Perhaps even as a person.


Your signature cookie should be uniquely you. When your friends and family taste it, they should think happy thoughts about you.


I came across this recipe about five years ago in Marcel Desaulnier's Death by Chocolate Chip Cookies. The first time I made it, I knew I had found it. My signature cookie. Wow.

This cookie is dense and thick. None of that light crispy business. None of that chewy mushy business. (Please don't take this personally if you like your cookies light and crispy or chewy and mushy. I have nothing against you - not much, anyway - but I am Very Particular about my cookies.) It is positively LOADED with chocolate chips. And it has a wonderful boozy flavor. Again, Wow.

Rum CCC's  (from Death by Chocolate)
These are called "Mrs. D's Chocolate Chip Cookies" in the original recipe. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Rum CCC's stands for Rum Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I have made just a couple of small tweaks over the years. First, I use light brown sugar instead of dark. And, when time allows, I refrigerate the dough for a few hours before shaping and baking. 

4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar (I use light)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons dark rum
24 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 300*. Line two baking sheets with foil lightly sprayed with Pam, or with Silpat or parchment.

Place the margarine and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium for 4 minutes.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the eggs, rum and vanilla. Beat on medium for 2 minutes, scraping halfway through if needed.

Add the baking soda and salt, and then the flour. Mix on low speed just till combined.

Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly, till combined. If time allows, refrigerate the dough for a few hours (or as long as overnight). Don't sweat it if you don't have time for this step. The original recipe omits it but I think it enhances the flavor of these cookies.

Use an ice cream scoop or tablespoon to make 24 mounds of batters, 12 on each tray. (Each mound should have about 2 tablespoons of dough.) You'll get 24 cookies.

Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through to ensure even baking. Cool on racks.