Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies

These little beauties are my new favorite cookie.  They are easy to make, moist, chewy, perfectly chocolaty, and just plain awesome, the texture and richness of this cookie is wonderful. You don't taste the cream cheese but it does make it very rich and moist; Cornstarch does the same thing pudding mix in a cookie does to keep it moist.
You DO need to plan ahead because these need to be refridgerated before baking so they do not spread and thin out.

Yield: 2 dozen

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 2.5 hours, for dough chilling

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks (I used 1 cup chips and 1 1/4 cups chunks)

1. Combine butter, cream cheese, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use an electric hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes).

2.Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.

3.Add chocolate chips and chunks, and beat momentarily to incorporate, or fold in by hand.

4.Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping mounds (I made 28). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 5 days to avoid the cookies spreading too thin..

5.Preheat oven to 350F, place cookies on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart.. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, Do not bake longer than 10 minutes as cookies will firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.