Sunday, November 22, 2009

Beginning of the Holidays


Chloe is off all next week, and we will head down to Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. The holidays must be officially here. In honor of them, I planted my annual amaryllis (red, of course), which kicks of the season for me.


Chloe and I also made our favorite chocolate chip cookies this morning - crisp edges and chewy centers. This is the recipe, which comes from Joyofbaking.com:



Chocolate Chunk Cookies



2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar
2/3 cup (140 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (210 grams) chocolate chunks (can use chocolate chips)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Place one oven rack in the top third of the oven, and one oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and egg yolk, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Form dough into balls, using 1/4 cup (55 grams) for each cookie. Place six balls of dough on each baking sheet. Gently flatten each ball of dough into a 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round. Bake the cookies for about 15-17 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. The cookies are done when they are light golden brown in color and just set. They will still seem a little soft but they will firm up as they cool. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 18 large cookies.

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