My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Different people have different ways of coping with stress. I cope by baking. It's cathartic. Especially when I bake something I've baked before, and I know it will turn out just fine. We had a bit of an emergency yesterday, so when it finally got handled, I decided I needed to make chocolate chip cookies.

My favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies is Alton Brown's thin chocolate chip cookie recipe. He also has a puffy and chewy recipe that taste the same (amazing!) but have different textures. 

Before my cookie project began, we had a bit of an emergency at the house. The pipe burst under the sink and started spewing water all over my bathroom! Thank goodness I was at the house at the time. I called maintenance and figured out the turn the water off. After about 2 - 3 minutes of spewing water, my bathroom was flooded with about an inch of water, the carpet right outside the bathroom was saturated, and water was pouring into the floor vent. This caused water to start leaking out of the ceiling in the kitchen. I threw down all our beach towels to soak up the water in the bathroom, and waited for maintenance to come.

After three different groups of workmen came in and out, we finally got the sink fixed, the water sucked out of the carpet, and a nice big hole in our ceiling in our kitchen. It's drying out, and hopefully the hole will be patched up Monday.

Anyway, back to the cookies. I started by putting one egg, 2 ounces of milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla in a bowl. Real vanilla is important here. 

I whisked the mixture gently with a fork and left it to come to room temperature while I got together other ingredients. 

Next, I added 2 1/4 cups flour and 1teaspoon each baking powder and kosher salt to another bowl.

Regular salt would work, but I think the kosher salt is really what sets this cookie apart. The salt is more corse and it makes the chocolate taste more chocolatey. 

I should have sifted these ingredients together, but I didn't feel like cleaning out my sifter, and stirring them with a fork has worked for me in the past.

Next, I got together a cup of white sugar, half a cup brown sugar, and 2 sticks of unsalted butter (I only had one stick unsalted, so I used a pinch less salt in the flour mixture and a stick of salted butter).

Of course, a bag of chocolate chips.

The butter was already room temperature, so I beat it in the kitchen aid for a minute. If it hadn't been soft enough, I would have put the sticks in the microwave for 5 seconds. I'm sure I'm not supposed to do that, but sometimes I just don't have the patience to wait for butter to soften on its own.

Then I added the sugars.

I beat them until combined.

Then I poured in the egg mixture.

And I beat it until combined.

I added the flour mixture by the cup full, beating until combined between each addition.

And finally, I added the chocolate chips.

I just turned the mixer on stir for a few seconds to get then mixed in.

I set the oven for 375 and covered two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Then I used a scoop to scoop out 6 cookies per sheet.

When I make smaller cookies, like these, I can fit 8 on a sheet. They spread out a good bit when baking.

I bake them for 5 minutes, turn them in the over, and check on them after 3 more minutes. The cooking time varies depending on the size of the cookie and the oven. Our oven runs hot, so the big cookies took 10 minutes and the little ones took 8. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them to a cooling rack.

We had guests over for dinner, and these were dessert. They might be Andrew's favorite thing I bake!

For the full recipe, go to food network's site and look up Alton Brown Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Sugar Cookies

I've played around with a bunch of different sugar cookie recipes ever since I started decorating cookies. I like the artistic aspect of decorating with royal icing, but I've always thought it's more important for a cookie to taste good than look good. I mean, royal icing it basically just sugar, so a decorated cookie could end up being sickeningly sweet if the cookie is too sweet by itself.

The sugar cookie recipe I finally settled with is a slightly modified version of one I got off of a Wilton cookie cutter. I like it because it's not overwhelmingly sweet, so the royal icing balances it out nicely. It's sturdy enough for icing without being rock hard, it holds it's shape relatively well, and, most importantly, it tastes good.

I start by setting my oven to 400 degrees.

(My cute little chicken timer is only a pointless decoration. I thought it was cute, so I got it, but it doesn't work well at all, we use the microwave timer instead.)

I gather all my ingredients because I've had the oh so fun experience of getting half way through a recipe before realizing I was out of eggs.

For this recipe I use:

1 cup unsalted butter, cut up

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla extract (I use more if I leave out almond or want a more subtle almond flavor)

1/4-1/2 tsp almond extract

3 cups all-purpose flour (with the last cup, I add it slowly until the dough is the right consistency. If it's a humid day, I usually use the whole thing, if not I use less.)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

I sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together - biting into a chunk of baking powder in a cookie is gross. Mixing it with a fork would do the trick, too.

I cut the butter into pieces and throw it in the mixing bowl. It works as well for me as using softened butter and takes less planning ahead.

I begin mixing the butter, then add sugar, egg, and extracts, beating until combined after each ingredient.

I then add the flour mixture slowly and beat until combined.

I form the dough into a couple disks and roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch think.

I cut out the cookies and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (you don't need the parchment paper, but it makes clean up easier and helps you move the cookies to the cooling rack). I then stick the cookie sheet with the cookies in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. That helps them hold their shape as they bake.

To use the scraps from cutting out the cookies, I knead them together thoroughly, then roll them out again. The extra four that is added when you use the scraps can make the cookies tough, so I only do this once or twice and I try to cut the cookies as close together as possible.

Then I bake them in a 400 degree oven for 6-10 minutes. The time varies a lot depending on the size and thickness of the cookie, so I check them and rotate the cookie sheet at four minutes to see how much time I think they need and I check every couple minutes after that.

They need to cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes until they are set, then they can be moved to a cooling rack. They must cool completely before they can be decorated, or the royal icing will be melty and messy.

These cookies are buttery, flavorful, and just sweet enough, perfect for royal icing decorations.