MRS. FIELDS CHOCOLATE CHIP

COOKIES

In 1975 eighteen-year-old Debbi Sivyer perfected the chocolate chip cookies she had been making since the age of twelve. Little did she know then that her delicious cookies would soon launch her into a successful career with her own multi-million-dollar business. It happened two years later, when her new husband, financial consultant Randy Fields, noticed that his clients couldn’t resist the batches of cookies that Debbie sent to work with him. With the help of Randy and a banker who lent her $50,000 because he loved her chocolate chip cookies so much, she opened her first cookie store in Palo Alto, California, in 1977. The second store opened two years later in San Francisco.

Without spending a dollar on advertising, the Mrs. Fields Company is now listed on the London Stock Exchange, claims more than 600 stores worldwide, and has purchased the 113-unit bakery chain, La Petite Boulangerie, from PepsiCo.

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter½ cup granulated sugar1½ cups packed brown sugar2 eggs2½ teaspoons vanilla extract2½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking powder1 teaspoon baking soda1½ twelve-ounce bags semisweet

chocolate chips

TOP SECRET

RECIPES

VERSION OF

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.3. Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.5. Stir in the chocolate chips.6. With your fingers, place golf-ball-size dough portions 2 inches apart on

an ungreased cookie sheet.7. Bake for 9 minutes, or until edges are light brown.

Makes 30 cookies

TIDBITS

It’s very important that you not exceed the cooking time given above, even if the cookies appear to be underbaked. When the cookies are removed from the oven, the sugar in them will stay hot and continue the cooking process. The finished product should be soft in the middle and crunchy around the edges.

For variations of this cookie, substitute milk chocolate for the semisweet chocolate and/or add 1½ cups of chopped walnuts or macadamia nuts to the recipe before baking. Although you can substitute margarine for butter in this recipe, you will have the best results from butter. The cookie will have a richer taste and will be crispier around the edges like the original.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter; sugars, eggs, and vanilla.3. Mix together the flour; salt, baking powder; and baking soda.4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.5. Stir in the chocolate chips.6. With your fingers, place golf-ball-size dough portions 2 inches apart on

an ungreased cookie sheet.7. Bake for 9 minutes, or until edges are light brown.

Makes 30 cookies

TIDBITS

It’s very important that you not exceed the cooking time given above, even if the cookies appear to be underbaked. When the cookies are removed from the oven, the sugar in them will stay hot and continue the cooking process. The finished product should be soft in the middle and crunchy around the edges.

For variations of this cookie, substitute milk chocolate for the semisweet chocolate and/or add 1½ cups of chopped walnuts or macadamia nuts to the recipe before baking. Although you can substitute margarine for butter in this recipe, you will have the best results from butter. The cookie will have a richer taste and will be crispier around the edges like the original.