In the spirit of my new attempt at chronicling my Sunday Dinners, I’ve decided to start a new ‘series’ I’m calling “The Tuesday Treat.” Explanation is as follows:
My beloved friend and coworker Lesli works in the office just on Tuesdays. She is one of my biggest baking fans, and never fails to get wildly excited whenever I bring in anything to share (she also commissioned me to do her daughter, Ruby Jayne,’s fourth birthday-party cake — a huge, two-layer butterfly cake with strawberry butter cream and which I haphazardly decorated with food coloring to try to achieve a ‘water color’ effect; I am no artist. I also made 2 dozen red velvet cupcakes. The kids loved ’em.). Lesli’s the one who coined the phrase “make everything better cookies” to describe my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies; she makes me want to bake her stuff, plain and simple.
Because I love her, and because I also love to bake, I’ve taken to baking a sweet treat for Tuesdays when she’s here. I don’t bake every week, but almost, and I thought it was about time I shared what I’m up to. Typically the recipes I employ are my tried-and-trues — brownies, lemon blueberry muffins, the oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies — tweaks on the old familiars, and some new experiments now and then. Not that I need any excuse to bake, but this has become a weekly ritual and one I look forward to – plus it brings a little cheer into the office – that keeps me creative and motivated.
All that to say: I’m also going to share my efforts with you, dear readers, because why should that good stuff be limited to San Francisco? Posts will include just a photo and a recipe — simple stuff to be sure. It may be a weekly thing … it may be bi-weekly … we will see. But I hope this will serve as a little mid-week treat for you, too.
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Sugar
This recipe is easily doubled – try baking one batch straight away and freezing the rest for later (as I did last night). I think the brown sugar plus the melted butter is what makes these cookies so addictive; they’ve got a sort of molasse-y, caramelized, hint-of-salt vibe that makes it impossible to eat just one. Sorry.
Makes about 3 doz. cookies
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and gradually stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Note: I use a whisk to mix together first the butter, sugar, and eggs, and it really helps make that batter nice and smooth. I also use it when I add the dry ingredients but after that, just a wooden spoon is needed. I think you can make the batter in about six minutes, tops.
Lesli says: SO good dunked in coffee… MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMM