I have a lot of things that are my favorite. Some things will be forever favorites while other things will be favorites until the next best thing comes along. My favorite pen to write with is a Jonathan Adler teal metal pen, followed closely by fine point Sharpies. My favorite hair product is Chi Silk Infusion. My favorite TV Show is Friday Night Lights, with Parenthood coming in right behind. I’ve never read a book that has moved me as much as The Glass Castle. If I could pick my favorite place to hang out, it would be on the beach of the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I love too many magazines, but the one that I get most excited to see in my mailbox each month is Real Simple Magazine, followed by Coastal Living. I’m a die hard Nikon DSLR fan. My favorite way to spend an early Saturday morning is baking goodies in the kitchen while listening to Glee (my favorite soundtrack) on my Kitchen iHome. Of course, I’d be wearing my favorite apron while baking from The Hip Hostess. Finally, my favorite child is…. oh wait, I probably shouldn’t go there, should I?

My list of favorite things goes on and on, but there is one question you can ask me that I will be forever dumbfounded on the answer, and that is “What is your favorite cookie?” I enjoy a good, chewy, soft cookie, but narrowing it down to which one type of cookie is my favorite is impossible. I love Monster Cookies, Snickerdoodle Cookies, Pie Crust Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Caramel Rolo Cookies. I love them all. And as close as I feel like I’ve come to finding my favorite recipe for each of these cookies, a new recipe comes along and gives the old fave a run for the money.

This is how it is with Chocolate Chip Cookies. I love my old standby recipe for Lisa’s Swirled Chocolate Chip Cookies. To me, that chocolate chip cookie recipe has always equaled perfection, resulting in a chewy on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside cookie gem. I don’t know what made me wander away from that recipe this weekend, but I did. I strayed and I found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is a very close rival. Maybe not my all time favorite, but a cookie recipe I’ll return to time and time again.

As you can see, figuring out my favorite type of cookie isn’t an easy task. I do believe it would be easier to pick out a favorite child…

Print

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies.

Course Dessert

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt

Instructions

• Evenly position 2 racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. (on convection setting if you have it.) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets. (If you only have 1 baking sheet, let it cool completely between batches.)
• Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave on medium power until melted. (Alternatively melt in a small saucepan.) Cool slightly. Whisk the sugars, eggs, butter and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
• Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon; take care not to over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips or chunks.
• Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared pans. Wet hands slightly and roll the dough into balls. Space the cookies about 2-inches apart on the pans. Bake, until golden, but still soft in the center, 12 to 16 minutes, depending on how chewy or crunchy you like your cookies. Transfer hot cookies with a spatula to a rack to cool. Serve.
• Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days.

Notes

Note - Kristen here... I found the cook time below to be way too long. I had perfectly baked cookies at 9 minutes of cook time, with two minutes of cooling on the baking sheet)

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The post My Favorite Things (Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

One day, the company I worked for offered me tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs game. I had been to a Chiefs game several times, but I knew that Nick, who loved football, had never been. I had three extra tickets and decided to see if my parents wanted to come up for the game and then I called Nick to see if he wanted to join us. He said yes and a few weeks later we were all heading to the game. It was that night, watching Nick interact with my parents… he treated them so well… that I got over my need for someone wild and crazy in my life and fell in love with Nick. We immediately started dating and the rest is history.

While dating, we would spend many a Saturday curled up on the couch watching college football. After we got married and bought a house, we still continued to watch football together, but eventually I began finding other things to do around the house to occupy my time. I began losing interest in “wasting” time watching football and found other things to do.

Now, Nick still watches football while I don’t. I like to sit in on the end of a game, but spending several hours in front of the TV is beyond something my attention span can handle these days. I know Nick feels the same way about some of the shows I watch too. Watching TV together is not something we do a whole lot of together anymore.

That is why I was so excited a few years ago when Nick introduced me to the TV show Friday Night Lights. It was one of his favorite books, and we both really enjoyed the movie. The TV show was something that we both really liked and we looked forward to our date nights of catching up on the most recent episodes. Then, in typical NBC fashion (meaning this always happens to us when we both get into a show we like that is on NBC) rumors began to swirl that they were not going to renew Friday Night Lights.  I was so disappointed. In fact, I was one of those crazy people who actually sent in $5 to the “Keep the Lights On” club to have mini footballs sent to NBC execs.

Well, the attempt to save Friday Night Lights and the TV date nights hubby and I were having worked, and Friday Night Lights returned this past week. To commemorate the occasion, I decided to make Martha Stewart’s Grasshopper Cake featured in the January 2009 edition of Martha Stewart Living. With a rich chocolate base and a creamy whipped Creme de Menthe frosting, this cake was worthy of such a special night. OK – well maybe not so special to you, but when you are married with three kids, anything that can get you back snuggling on the couch is worthy of special accolades!

Grasshopper Cake (from Martha Stewart Living Magazine)

Serves 8.

• FOR THE CAKE
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• FOR THE FROSTING
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoons
• 2 1/2 tablespoons creme de menthe
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 12 Andes Creme de Menthe candies
• 36 white sprinkles (which let me tell you… big pain in the rear if you have to dig through a jar of multi colored sprinkles!)

1. Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-12-inch cake pan. Line bottom with parchment, then butter parchment, and dust with cocoa powder. Tap out excess.
2. Whisk cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, warm water, milk, sour cream, butter, and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto rack, and let cool. Cake will keep, unfrosted and covered, overnight.
4. Make the frosting: Mix whites and sugar in a mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Heat, whisking constantly, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Remove from heat. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add butter, several tablespoons at a time, whisking after each addition. Add creme de menthe and vanilla, and beat for 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
6. Using a paring knife, cut corners off mint candies to shape each into a football. Press 3 sprinkles onto each, using frosting as glue. Frost cooled cake. Arrange footballs on cake in 4 rows of 3. Cake will keep, covered, for up to 4 days. Slice just before serving.

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