C is for cookie

After a starch-free dinner of broiled mahi mahi, green beans and salad, Andy and I were craving us some cookies.

(note to JMUers: Craving Cookies is now Campus Cookies and while we were not craving Campus Cookies, I've heard good things about them).

Last night I decided to try a new recipe and after a quick Google search I discovered these "best chocolate chip cookies ever," which sounded intriguing. The recipe is super easy, but I always get nervous whenever I reach the "add flour" section of a recipe. In my experience flour doesn't enjoy being confined to a mixing bowl, even my incredible 5 quart Oxo Good Grips (which is one of my closest friends).

This recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, which of course should be added in small amounts as to prevent an atomic bomb of flour. I was worried that my hand mixer would break while fighting the thick dough, so I tried using multiple spatulas, a whisk and even my hands. Not smart. It took forever for me to get the dough off of these different apparatuses (apparati?) and I, of course, resorted to eating copious amounts of cookie goo.

I finally gave my hand mixer a shot and while it greatly struggled and made sad sputtering noises, it got the job done. I popped spoonfuls in the oven for 14 minutes, let them sit as directed and Voila! they were fabulous. Perfect amount of chew. They were also HUGE. I didn't bake all of the dough and plan on freezing the rest today in smaller spoonfuls.

I did not weigh the flour and I don't see any need to. I also used unsalted butter because that's all we had. Next time I plan on using slightly less vanilla and slightly more sea salt. I used about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips instead of 2 and will absolutely do that again.

My cookies turned out just like the pictures. Love it when that happens!