next cookie

This next cookie recipe is great if you want to work out while you bake.  Everything has to be mixed by hand--everything!  It takes a while and a lot of effort, but it creates a better, more tender crumb.  So, if that's what you're going for than this is your cookie:

More Traditional Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

ingredients:

1 ½ cup butter (very room temperature)

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

1 tbs vanilla

2 eggs

4 cups flour

2 tbs baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 cups walnuts, chopped

1 24 oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips

 directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter with sugars in a large mixing bowl with a sturdy wooden spoon, this should take about 10 minutes.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Sift the dry ingredients together in another bowl and gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Mix together until just barely incorporated.  Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.  Spoon out onto cookie sheets, about 2 oz of dough per cookie and bake for 13 minutes.

*note: if you want your cookies to be more uniform in shape roll in your hands before putting them on your ungreased cookie sheet

bake off

lately i've been editing my recipes and tossing the ones that were not the best.  i've decided that i'm going to do my own version of tyler's ultimate and figure out which ones of my recipes are "the ultimate."  this week i'm trying out some of my chocolate chip cookie recipes.  first up: 

(photography by amber hansen)

The Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookie

Adapted from David Leite via The New York Times

Takes: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours chilling

Makes: 2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

 ingredients

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour*

1 2/3 cups bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content

Sea salt

directions: 

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

 2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and try to incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. [Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.]

 3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

 4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm.  Or if you can wait.  Let cool completely on a rack and then store in an airtight container.

 * I should have used Valrhona feves, but I didn't feel like going to Sur La Table, so I just used Guittard 62% chocolate disks, found at Bristol Farms.  They worked just fine, but Valrhona is definitely a better tasting chocolate.  If you can't find the big disks, I've heard that Ghiradeli makes larger chocolate chips that you can find at the market and those would probably work just fine.

* To make pastry or cake flour just sift together 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch.  Obviously makes 2 cups.

I would rate these cookies a 9.5.  I think they would be even better with darker chocolate.  Some of my taste-testers preferred the cookies made without the sea salt, but I liked the salty cookies.  Up to you I guess.  But if I were you, I would definitely try some with salt.

Up next.  A softer chocolate chip cookie with walnuts.

the much delayed, but highly anticipated cabin trip

to kick off our mountain weekend we made a stop at knowlwoods to partake of some cheeseburgers and their take on aussie cheese fries.

he was not impressed.

however, andelish and i thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

then we did some backyard sledding.

we decided to go way up to the top of the hill behind the house and andie ran into a stump.  it was pretty intense.

more sledding

then it was time for a family pic.  then david, andie and typod thought it would be cool to push me and ambie down the hill.

it wasn't :/
but we made up
such and angel

on the way home we had to go to the famous waffle place.  andie almost lost her breakfast:

while there we also watched 7lbs.  wtf?

24k gold for breakfast

there is no place like las vegas.  for valentines' day i had a surprise quick trip to las vegas for this:

and this:

 and then the next day i got to eat this for breakfast:

i love las vegas and i love valentines' day.

new york: where 2 for $5 is more like 2 for $8.56

before we could <3 NY we had to celebrate typod's and gma's bday/mlk day!

(typod turned 11 and his favorite food is king crab legs, so this is him loving it)


(he also loved his birthday presents... )

(addison loved me and the icecream... favorirte aunt status!)

then we were off to new york... it was a little congrats on graduating trip.

we walked to the brooklyn bridge with grand ideas of walking across it, but with strong winds and 20 degree temps, we decided to just walk to the first arches. this is manhattan from the bridge:

and this is us in front of the seals at the central park zoo:


and this is the inside of the downtown vosges boutique:

and this is the original chinatown icecream factory. interesting but maybe not the best idea to eat icecream outside in january.


we did a lot more, but it was way too cold to take pictures of everything. new york was awesome even though i spent hours on the steps and at the plaza waiting to see b or s or even little j and no one showed. i guess i should have the gg link on my phone so i can keep track of my favorite upper east-siders.

some people just don't know how to say no.
xoxo,
gossip girl

we're looking forward to visiting all of our readership (andie and stephie and steven) before we move for medical school. so plan some itineraries and we're there.

Transitions

well, this will be a little recap of our '08 to '09 transition.

david graduated:

(and my mom thought that since it was ASU we needed to take a picture by a cactus)

and we got to stay at some resort in scottsdale that was really into giant lizards. typod would have been in heaven:

then we came home and went to see glory of christmas. this is how awesome it was:

(some of us liked it more than others. tyler really liked it, especially the crazy lady trying to sell mardi gras beads to the three wisemen)

then it was christmas:

(i can't wait until andie and ambie have a joint wedding this summer and we get to squeeze even more people on the stairs)

(btw... this is tyler in between his barf sessions)

(ghost of christmas future)

(barry bonds sent tyler a giant's backpack--it was christmas miracle. thanks fedex)

(santa finally ordered andie's senior pics... four years late)

(amber got the best present ever)

(and i finally changed my name... you're welcome david)

then it was new years: rockin' party at the bobergs. then naters came to visit and we did all sorts of indie things. then we got to visit savannah and cole and didn't take any pics. then the holidays were over and we're counting down until next year.

Visitors...

Due to the difficult nature of the decision before us, we have resolved to choose our future place of residence solely on the basis of which location will draw the most visitors. And so we feel that this is the most appropriate medium to determine the preference of our favorite people(being that our two friends are the only ones to read this blog). So here are your choices,

would you rather...

salute our troops at the naval base in Norfolk, VA,

eat deep dish pizza and watch a cubs game in Chicago, IL

get a beer and go to North America's largest indoor waterpark in Milwaukee, WI

or visit the legendary Western town Tombstone and get your gamble on in Tucson, AZ?

Trust me, we are aware of the difficult choice before you, which is why we've chosen the democratic process as the best means of securing a pleasant future. Let us know what you decide...