The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies have taken the blogging world by storm since the beginning of time. I've probably tried 5 or 6 different variations, some stuffed with nutella, many with browned butter, and usually I have just stayed with a recipe handed down by my aunt. But when Deb of Smitten Kitchen posted this recipe...no...this PICTURE, I literally couldn't get it out of my mind.

It took totaling my car and feeling like absolute crap to actually tip the scales in favor of making them, but I'm glad I did because friends, nothing soothes the soul like a nice, soft chocolate chip cookie. I liked this recipe for a few reasons: the baking temperature is weird and I like weird things, as someone keeps tell me. Or maybe it's more that I am weird. Same difference, really. Anyway...I also liked that she used chunks. I've never used Trader Joe's Pound Plus before, but if Deb says it's good, I am willing to give it a try. I got the dark chocolate (they also have 60% cacao and milk) and really liked it - not too sweet but definitely overpowering thanks to the recipe calling for 1/2 pound of it. Finally, my personal test of whether or not I like a cookie recipe is how they taste the next day: I hate that stale, crunchy exterior-next day-cookie taste. But seeing as I'm sitting here munching on one 3 days after making it, happy as a clam, I'd say we're good on that front.

I didn't change the recipe at all, except I used 2 Tbs granulated sugar in lieu of turbinado (didn't have any: I am a grad student/I am moving/due to afore mentioned car accident I was afraid to go to the grocery store). I also sprinkled with Himalayan pink rock salt, finely crushed, instead of sea salt (see reasons mentioned in last sentence). I liked the added saltiness, personally, but I shared these with some compadres who asked if I'd done something different with them and they asked in that way that really means, "These were a little salty." So maybe I do need the sea salt.

Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies (this is Deb's recipe, straight from her blog) with my opinions inserted

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (or, she says, you can use it out of the fridge and beat the heck out of it to make it room temperature. I usually speed defrost it for 10-15 seconds and it's fine)
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (25 grams) turbinado sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw; you can use more brown or white if you don’t have this, but the subtle crunch it adds is delightful) - I used white
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (165 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon (or, technically, 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon) fine sea or table salt
1 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 pound (225 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate, cut into roughly 1/2-inch chunks with a serrated knife
Flaky sea salt, to finish

Heat oven to 360°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beating until incorporated, and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in salt fine sea or table salt and baking soda until combined, then the flour on a low speed until just mixed. The dough will look crumbly at this point. With a spatula, fold/stir in the chocolate chunks. 

Scoop cookies into 1 1/2 tablespoon mounds, spacing them apart on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each with a few flakes of sea salt. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, until golden on the outside but still very gooey and soft inside. Out of the oven, let rest on baking sheet out of the for 5 minutes before transferring a cooling rack.

Extra dough can be formed into scoops and frozen on a sheet until solid, then transferred to a freezer bag. I’ve baked these right from the freezer; they need, at most, 1 minute more baking time. You could also form them into a 2-inch log, freeze it, and slice and bake the cookies off as desired. The only difference I’ve noted between the cookies baked right away and those baked a day or more later is that the older cookie dough is less puffy when baked.

Store in a Tupperware with the lid tightly closed for maximum chewiness the next day.

Cowgirl Cookies for Breast Cancer

When I was home for Spring Break my sister pulled out a jar of cookie mix that my mom had bought for a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness. They were absolutely wonderful - full of mixins and they baked up gooey in the center and crunchy on the outside. I mean, just looking at that picture makes me want to whip up another batch.

The ingredients were listed, but the amounts weren't so I had to guess at those. Here's an idea of what was inside so maybe you can play around with the recipe. I modified it to include what we found in our own jar.

Cowgirl Cookies:

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips - I also added about 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix in 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 egg

Give a good stir and roll into walnut-sized balls. Place on a cookies sheet about 2 inches apart (make a tester tray to see how much they really spread) and bake for 11-13 minutes at 350 degrees.

Nourishing Break-Time Meals

With a physiology exam on the horizon, I had to find a way to motivate myself to study hard for the entire weekend. And since we have Monday to study, I knew I had to make my time at the desk count. So I started "rewarding" myself. As in, if you finish taking notes on these 7 chapters, you can make a tasty lunch. Or, once you've memorized these equations, you can bake a batch of cookies. And wouldn't you know, I am sitting here, writing this post with a plate of cookies in front of me and a Tupperware of carrot stoup in the fridge. I call it "stoup" for a reason, and I'll tell you about that in just a moment. The point is, it's important to work hard, but work efficiently. For me, that means setting goals but also breaks to regroup and revive.

I started the morning intending to make a little carrot soup for myself. More to use up the carrots I had in my fridge because I knew I would get sick of eating them raw with my lunches. So I sauteed 2 pats of butter with 4 chopped carrots and half a Vidalia onion (which are wayyyy easier to find here in Virginia than they were in Virginia). Next, I added a splash of sherry because I always feel the soup is missing something. I seasoned with a teeeny bit of salt and some pepper and then added my chicken broth - 4 cups. Instead of rice, I added about 1/2 cup of barley as well. I set the timer for 25 minutes and allowed the soup to simmer away on medium heat. During this time, my roommate came home and told me she was going to take a little nap. I didn't want to wake her by whirring up my soup in the blender. So I just scouped up a bowl as it was and took a spoonful. Man, was it good!!!!! Soooooo good. I loved have a little extra texture and the barley made it so satisfying. To use the words of AArti, it warmed me from my belly out. I went back for seconds.

Two hours later, I was feeling unmotivated again, so I told myself I could make some cookies if I stuck it out another 20 minutes. I just used the recipe on the back of the Ghiradelli bag of chocolate chips, cutting it in half because, let's face it, I don't need 30 cookies hanging around the house when I am under pressure ;)

For your viewing delight, here are a few pictures of the cookies dough, because everyone knows it's my favorite part. Oh, and a little trick - I like a crunchy exteriors and a gooey interior, so I take the cookies out when they have a nice little crust, but still dip in when I poke them gently. I let them sit on the pan on the counter and they cook a little more, but not toooo much.

Traverse City Inspired Cookies

Anyone and everyone who knows me knows one things: I LOOOOOVE COOKIES!!! Russian tea cookies, oatmeal cranberry cookies, chocolate chip cookies...yum yum.

So the other night I got a craving - a cookie craving. But this time, I wanted to make something a little extra special. So I went to the cupboard and found the perfect extra ingredient: Traverse City Dried Cherries. I just chopped up about a 3/4 cup and threw them into a chocolate chip cookie batter. The little pieces peeking out of the batter crisped up a little and were so tasty. I use Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chips because I love that they are a little bigger than the normal size chip and the chocolate has a deeper chocolate flavor and are less "sugery."

My favorite part of making cookies is the beautiful color of sugar and butter mixed together in perfect harmony. My second favorite part is adding the dry ingredients to the wet and watching the delicious dough form for real. Then...it's NIBBLING time!

These cookies are the perfect pair to an ice cold glass of milk. Although I must admit...I am a sucker for cookie dough over the actual baked cookie. So I am usually a little ill by the time it comes to the dipping part...hehe :)