You can't learn how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch without a great recipe. Start with 2 sticks of butter. Cream the butter and add 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cups of granulated sugar. Cream them together until all the lumps of sugar and butter are out. Make sure the butter is softened beforehand, but it shouldn't be melted.

Next, add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 eggs. Whisk the eggs first to break them up and make them easier to mix in. You can use an electric mixer to make it easier, but be sure not to beat it too much. You don't want to beat it because that will keep it from being chewy.

Mix together 2 1/4 cups of flour and a teaspoon each of baking soda and salt. Stir them together in a separate bowl and then gradually add it to the wet ingredients. Finally, stir in 2 cups of chocolate chips.

Chill the cookie dough for about an hour or 2 and then roll the dough into 2 inch balls. Bake in a 350 degree oven on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and off the pan after they've cooled for a couple of minutes.

Serve warm or store in a cookie jar.

As simple as it is to make chocolate chip cookies, it's pretty easy to mess them up.  If you have ever made chocolate chip cookies, you may have ended up with flat cookies, burnt cookies, or another problem.

One tip you should remember is to always make sure the pan is cooled before you place the next batch of cookies on it.  Put it in the refrigerator for a couple minutes if you need it to cool faster. 

The reason why you should do this is because when you the pan is still warm or hot and you place more balls of dough on it, the dough will begin to melt around the edges of the cookie.  The cookies will end up being flat, or they will be flatter around the edges and that part of the cookie will become crispy or burned.

Also, be careful how big you make the cookies.  Make sure they are all the same size so that they bake evenly and don't make them too large or they might burn on the outside and not be cooked enough in the middle.

Don't substitute anything that you're not sure of.  For example, don't use lemon extract if you don't have vanilla because the flavor will be very prominent, and you don't want a lemon flavor in your chocolate chip cookies.

Another way to prevent flat cookies is to make sure the dough is chilled.  Only take the dough out the the refrigerator when you are rolling the balls.  Always return the dough to the refrigerator so that it doesn't soften.