Browsing the archives for the chocolate chip cookies tag.

Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Domestic, Kids

I know some people prefer a crunch with their cookies, and occasionally I’ll make a really crunchy cookie for the kids when they request it, but generally they love their cookies ultra soft. Ginger cookies, chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies and yes, the beloved chocolate chip cookie are all served up really soft and moist around here (I love the wee bite marks the two littlest ones leave in them when they put them down for a drink). So I’ve been baking up different versions of all kinds of cookies for years to find exactly the right combination to get the right texture. I have succeeded with these babies right here. Normally, I like to know where a recipe came from before I post it on the blog, but in this case I think it was my granny. I found this recipe written on an index card in my kitchen when we unpacked a few months ago, which is really weird because I had to itemize every little thing we brought with us for the border patrol. So I thought I knew everything that was in the bins we brought over. Clearly then, this was the work of kitchen fairies. Let’s not question the kitchen fairies.

Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
In typical cookie fashion, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt in one bowl and cream together the butter and sugars in another.
Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
I cream the butter and sugars in the Kitchen Aid and them slowly pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture with the machine on low. Then I take the bowl off the stand and stir the chocolate chips in with a wooden spoon. The wooden spoon makes me feel old school and justifies my ridiculous (and by ridiculous I mean fabulous) apron. Then bake 375 for 9 minutes. The timing is the key to the softness of these guys. They’ll seem borderline mushy, don’t fret. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before you move them to a rack (or a plate) to cool off completely so they don’t stick together in the cookie jar!
Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
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Our First Video (& Some Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Domestic, Kids

So, you know how I feel about children in the kitchen. I strongly encourage it and I really think they can learn so much. Obviously, they learn about cooking or baking and they might learn a bit about the dish they’re making, but they also learn a lot about fractions when we double of halve a recipe and they learn a little baking chemistry as well! One day, I’ll gift wrap brand new copies of The Cake Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible for them to learn all kinds of crazy kitchen chemistry. In the meantime, I’ll assault them with information as we bake. I’ve also noticed that random questions about life pop up when we’re all relaxed and enjoying each other’s company in the kitchen – and that’s always a good thing.

All of the kids love to be in the kitchen. Wee One #2 likes big bakes mostly, like cakes and pies and breads. Wee One #1 likes to cook more than he likes to bake. Wee One #3 though, she shares my affinity for small, quick batch baking. Cookies, cupcakes, muffins, and the like. ‘Teatime Treats’ is usually the chapter of baking books she gravitates towards. When I announced that I wanted to bake up some cookies, she was my first volunteer and this video is the result.

I have tried other chocolate chip cookie recipes, but my Granny’s is just always, always better!

This is her recipe:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg
1 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes!

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Menu Monday and Week in Review (Orange Cake, Good Housekeeping Cookies, Cute Hair and Chocolate Chili Cake)

Domestic, Kids, Pretty

What a wonderful week we all had! Right after rolling out the new site and making a couple of posts my Dad came to visit us in the woods! We’ve seen him a bunch since we moved but he hadn’t come up to hang out yet! He made the 1 hour ++ walk into town 3 times – twice with Wee One #2 and once with Wee One #1. He helped with the kids and did almost all of the cooking. I tested a few recipes out on him and we had some of those amazing late night conversations about everything and nothing at the same time. We were all sad that he had to go home this morning, but I am sure my mother and my sister are missing him! When a visitor that special comes around, blogging can wait a few days, right? 😉 I had intended to post these recipes/how to last week. An orange cake from Baking With Kids, my favourite chocolate chip cookies from Good Housekeeping, a silly but fun hair tutorial and a chocolate-chili birthday cake I made a few months ago! Ready? Here we go!

The kids are really getting into this – picking the recipes to make themselves. Sometimes they want to bake together and sometimes, like this recipe, one of them wants to try it out while the other one isn’t into to. Wee One #3 is always into it but she’s just 2 so she’s not much help. 😉 This time around Wee One #2 really wanted to make the Orange Cake, so away we went. By the time she was done she had a small piece and it was pretty much time for bed. When my husband got snacky late that night he tried a piece, loved it, tried another piece, loved it more and the before he knew it he had eaten most of the cake! Whoops. Instead of being annoyed with him for eating her masterpiece, she said she was happy that her Daddy loved it so much. So cute!!

It was one of the simpler recipes in the book and at 5 years old, she had no trouble putting it all together.

The best part of the recipe for her was pureeing half an orange in the blender. It reminds me a lot of the clementine cake I made for Chinese New Year 2009, where seven clementines were briefly boiled, then chopped a bit and pureed whole. It was an amazing cake and so was this one.

 

I also posted the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I use on a regular basis. It’s from Good Housekeeping and I’ve been baking it since 2001! It’s simple and fast and you probably already have all of the ingredients in your kitchen right now.

 

My last foodie mention for this post is a Chocolate Chili Cake I made for my friend Andrew’s birthday this year! It was really good, I had my doubts really but I went with it because Andrew likes spicy foods and he’s always a good sport when it comes to my kitchen adventures. I went with this recipe and it worked out beautifully. This year, we celebrated Andrew and Talea’s birthdays together since they’re only a week apart and I don’t see everyone as much now that we live in the woods. Talea loves brownies way more than cake so I cut a hole in the middle of the cake and popped in a glass bowl full of dense brownies! I’m very pleased to report that both birthday peeps were happy with their treats!

 

I’ll end on a cute note – I have been playing with my hair more than ever, the more I mess around with it the more I want to mess around with it. I used to be a little nervous about doing something ridic with it because you know, then I’m the crazy lady with the weird hair but I’ve been the crazy lady with weird hair before anyway so why do I fret? My friend Jade always reminds me that it’s not fun without the fashion risks in life and hair certainly falls in that category so away we go. This will be one of the last hair tutes with black hair – that’s right people I’m going blonde. Again. For now though, I have a little tute of a cute half pony.

 
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