Baking Highs and Lows

After my very successful apple pie, I was feeling extremely confident with my baking talents.  I started thinking that maybe I did have some baking talent after all!  I decided that for Drew's birthday I would make chocolate cupcakes from scratch (I am usually a box mix kind of girl).  Well my confidence was quickly shot when my cupcakes failed to rise and plump up while baking and instead fell flat looking more like cookies on the muffin tin than cakes.  When I tried to get them out of the pan, thinking that I could still somehow save them, they fell apart into little piles of (very delicious) crumbs.  My streak of success had quickly come to an end.

To make it up to Drew, I decided to make him his favorite sweet breakfast for his birthday instead.  I pulled this french toast recipe out of my Vanderbilt Children's Hospital cookbook (which I love!!).  Here he is the morning of his 29th birthday (as Albert hopes that Drew shares his birthday breakfast with him!)

 

Finally, I wanted to share a delicious chocolate chip cookie that I found a while ago in a magazine I had picked up (either Real Simple or Martha's Everyday Food...I can't remember).  I made these cookies again last week and was reminded of how delicious they are.  The dough also freezes really well, so we divide the dough into 4 or 5 portions so we can make cookies for weeks.  It keeps us from eating them all at once too.

Crave Worthy Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 1/4 cup (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (not melted)

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (I have made it with and without...I think it just depends on whether you are in a nutty mood or not!)

Directions:

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium high until fluffy (about 5-6 minutes).  Reduce speed to medium-low and beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in vanilla.  Mix in flour mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips and chunks (and nuts if you want).

Using a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop or large spoon, drop dough on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place 6 cookies on each sheet about 3 inches apart.  Bake 17 to 18 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through.  Let cool.   You should get 24 large cookies with chewy centers and crispy edges! YUM!!

If you want to freeze the dough, scoop the dough and place on baking sheet.  Pop into freezer for about an hour, and then transfer dough balls to plastic freezer bags.  Freeze for 2-3 months (if they last that long!!) :)  Bake from frozen when craving cookies!