"The" chocolate chip cookies

It probably doesn't surprise you that I've craved chocolate chip cookies a lot this pregnancy.

Like, a lot.

Like, I've bought more packages of Chips Ahoy than Oreos in the past few months. MORE CHIPS AHOY THAN OREOS, PEOPLE. It's a big deal.

And the reason it probably doesn't surprise you is that I've mentioned it quite a bit.

Thank you for putting up with me.

Anyway, the cookie I made for June was "the" chocolate chip cookie. Unless you are new to blogland or read very few blogs, I'm sure you've heard about the New York Times guy that went on the quest to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

He talked to all these experts to find out what made the best cookies, taking into account things like size, chocolate amount and type, etc.

I followed the recipe very closely, though not perfectly (totally forgot the sea salt before baking. Darn it because I bought sea salt for this very recipe. Curse you, pregnancy brain!). I'm also not entirely sure I did the whole "chill overnight" thing correctly, because I took the dough out of the bowl and wrapped it all in plastic wrap, instead of just pressing plastic wrap over the top of the dough in the bowl. I didn't think this would make a big difference, but maybe...

Anyway, final product:

Photobucket

(Please ignore the insanely odd coloring in this photo. Thanks.)

So, were they good?

Short answer - yes. Very yes.

Am I not going to be able to eat another chocolate chip cookie ever again? No. No, I'll be fine. In fact, I'm not sure I would even say this is my most favorite chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. (Yeah, I just went there.) They were delicious, don't get me wrong. But I wasn't totally sold on the bittersweet chocolate. There was a little too much of it, and it kind of overwhelmed the rest of the cookie. Plus, hello, they have to rest overnight, and my goodness, I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I had to wait a whole night to get chocolate chip cookie deliciousness.

Maybe the sea salt would throw them over the top? Maybe the dough chilling thing was totally important? No clue.

All I know is that I'm probably still going to make my way through a whole lotta Chips Ahoy packages before this baby comes.

And I'm totally cool with that.

(p.s. Do you have a chocolate chip recipe you love? We have a "family" recipe that I really like, but I'm always looking for others to try. Or do you have any other cookie recipe that you love? This has been one of my favorite things to do this year and I want to keep things going well.)

Mmmm...

So I made these great ginger cookies! They were so good. And Christmasy, which is possibly the best part. I got them from the blog of a girl I went to high school with. The blog is http://mymuffinthursdays.blogspot.com/ and it's great! Here's the recipe for these nummy cookies...

Dipped Ginger Cookies
Ingredients:
2 c sugar
1 1/2c oil
2 eggs
1/2c molasses
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
4 c flour
extra sugar
white chocolate or vanilla almond bark

Directions:
Combine sugar and oil. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Stir in molasses. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in baking powder. Stir in flour. Roll out 3/4" balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will still be soft. Allow them to rest on warm cookie sheet for two minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

To dip cookies, melt squares (about 3 at a time) in a double boiler (a glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water). Dip cookies in halfway and shake off excess chocolate. Place on waxed paper. Allow chocolate to set or put pan in refrigerator to set.

Makes 8-9 dozen cookies


My picture isn't nearly as good as her pictures, but the cookies still tasted good!

Yay.