New Recipe - Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week, my good friend Molly came to town for a work event.  Lucky for me, I got to have dinner with her after she got into town!  Her birthday was the week before, so I decided I needed to bake a little something to help welcome in 26!  I needed something quick, easy and easily transportable since she would be taking whatever I made back to Memphis with her.  After a quick trip to What Megan's Making, I decided I would make these Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I decided to double the recipe in order to have enough to take to work on Monday and to give to Molly on Monday night.  All in all, a double batch yielded about four dozen cookies when made as the recipe suggested (a scant quarter-cup of dough per cookie).

Mom came to take care of me Wednesday night (I had a clumsy moment involving my foot and my pizza stone.) and she ate my leftover cookies and baked the last bit of leftover dough.  She took the last few cookies home and "ever so kindly" allowed my Dad to try them just because he wasn't feeling well.  Usually, he complains that he doesn't get more than a taste of anything I make.  He has since said that he prefers these cookies to the famous cookies at the DoubleTree.  I think that's quite a compliment since they are my very favorite cookies!

Also, I didn't think that it would be necessary to make a ball of dough, split it in half and then reattach the halves, but after baking these cookies were so pretty!  I think it's worth the extra step to have pretty cookies!

The recipe is below for anyone who doesn't want to click through the links!


Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from What Megan's Making


Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp (10 5/8 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 oz) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
~1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (I prefer chocolate chunks!)
Directions:

Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 325. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks to taste.

Roll a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough's uneven surface. This will give the cookies a bakery-like appearance. Place the the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden, yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15-18 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets to retain their chewy texture.

Oh Happy Day!!

Oh Happy Day is DEFINITELY right!

I think I'm just about finished with all of my deadline work for September--just a few last-minute projects to help other people out!

My huge, impossibly hard return (that I've worked on for WEEKS) was delivered today!

I don't have to work this weekend on a return for a client I've never worked on before--without help from the manager!  Even better, I don't have to do it NEXT week, either!

I'm not working late tonight or tomorrow night (if I can help it!)

My house is clean(er) due to a mad cleaning spree last night after getting home from work at 7 o'clock and not 10 o'clock!  I may be tired, but my house is cleaner!

I'm going to grill something yummy tonight and sit on my deck to enjoy the food and my outdoor furniture!

"Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I got a beautiful feeling everything's going my way!"  - Oklahoma

Recipes and a New Cooking Blog

As I promised, here are the recipes for the super yummy pizza I made over Labor Day weekend.  I made four thin-crust pizzas with one dough recipe and it was more than enough to feed five adults when served with a side salad.  Keep in mind that both of these recipes are made using a food processor--quite possibly the best kitchen appliance ever!

For the pizza dough, I used this recipe from my earlier post.  This time, thanks to some good advice, I used bread flour only instead of bread flour and all-purpose flour like the first time I made this dough.  I think the crust was crisper and it was simpler to just use one type of flour when I was busy making this dough after 9 o'clock at night!

I also made homemade sauce from a blog I was recently told about called, What Megan's Making.  This is now one of my favorite cooking blogs and it's so much fun  to see what good food Megan's been making!  This sauce is so good and comes together in 30 seconds or less!  I don't think I'll ever buy store bought pizza sauce again!

I topped two pizzas with store bought shredded mozzarella and pepperoni (the Publix deli has the best pepperoni, by the way) while the other two had mozzarella, pepperoni, Italian sausage, red bell peppers and tons of olives (A treat for my Dad--I think he'd eat an olive pizza if I'd allow it!).

I also made pie crust again the week before Labor Day.  Practice makes perfect, right?  I made another chicken pot pie to thank my Dad for working on my car, a few homemade pop tarts that weren't the best (needed more filling) and then used the last crust to make a chocolate fudge pie to take to Mom over Labor Day weekend.  I think my impromptu pie crimping lesson before choir practice really paid off since these pies looked much better this time!  I hate to say something bad about a Martha Stewart recipe, but my "surrogate aunt's" recipe is so much easier to roll out and work with!  I really do think part of the difference was using shortening vs. butter (in the MS recipe).  I didn't ask for permission to share that recipe with anyone and, since it originally came from her MIL, I better not share it for now.

Daddy said he was disappointed Chef Katie didn't come home for the weekend, so I must be doing something right!  I was a little to busy cleaning the kitchen to get it all dirty again making dinner on Saturday.  I'll have to come up with something else to impress him with before my next trip to Florence!

Labor Day and a Weekend at Home

It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm updating from my iPad now, so unfortunately I can't add any of my pictures from Labor Day. The fact that they are still on the card in my camera doesn't help, either!

Mom, Dad and I spent Labor Day weekend at our condo in Gatlinburg. I was able to get away a bit early on Friday and managed to beat a good bit of the traffic headed East. Saturday, Mother and Daddy went hiking with some good family friends while I kept Emma and our friends' new Westie. It was quite an adventure keeping Riley and Emma happy. At times, I had to hold both of them at the same time to keep everyone happy and under control.

For dinner on Saturday night, I made pizza using dough and sauce made in my food processor. I'll post the recipes later this week. I'm so glad I have friends that share recipes with me! I think I impressed my family and our friends--especially considering the small amount of leftovers at the end of the night.

Sunday was quite possibly the best day of the trip. I'd worked many extra hours that week and was feeling quite stressed. Without planning it, I slept for most of the day until I had to get ready for dinner. I must have really needed the rest considering I had no difficulties sleeping that night!! I'm starting to think I have narcolepsy again, though!!

Monday meant driving back to Nashville and getting ready for another busy week.

This past Friday, I decided I could escape for the weekend and didn't have to work. I may regret it tomorrow morning, but I'm glad I got to have some fun and helped Mother with things at home. Saturday, I cleaned house (I really like Mom's Dyson, by the way) and visited Grandaddy before another narcolepsy-induced nap. Sunday, I sang in the choir with my friends at church before going to lunch with my self-proclaimed surrogate aunt. Before I knew it, we'd been talking for two hours and it was time to check on Grandaddy again!! After visiting him, it was time to go back to Nashville. The drive passed much faster since I talked to my Grad School BFF the entire way!!

Now, I'm home and have to get ready for another busy week at work. I'm worried about a big project I've yet to start that is due in a week, but it will get done eventually. Somehow, these things always do!

I'll be back soon to share my recipes and the best cooking blog that was recently pointed out to me.

Not Your Orange

As I was driving to the mountains last night, I stopped for a quick pit stop and for a drink. As I was checking out, the attendant asked me if I was going to watch the game? I immediately said yes, but then I realized he didn't mean the same game that I did.

You see, we were allowed to wear jeans and our college colors yesterday to work. Naturally, I wore a bright orange shirt to represent my Tigers. The man at the register just assumed I was a UT fan with my orange, but I had to quickly say "Sir, my game is tomorrow. I'm a graduate of Auburn University. I will watch your game tonight, though."

I forget that there are other teams with orange in their colors. I know it's silly since nearly everyone around is a UT fan, but orange always means Auburn to me. I wish I was in Atlanta tonight to cheer the boys in blue on tonight, but they'll make the Auburn Family proud win or lose tonight!!

War Eagle!!

Where I've been...

Sorry I've been AWOL lately.  Things are busy at work with "Tax Season, Part II" in full swing.  This means that corporate and partnership returns we extended in March and April are now due on September 15th (or 17th this year--thanks, Emancipation Day for making tax season longer yet again).

I've been very busy at work for the last two weeks.  I feel like people are pulling me in every possible direction to get their work done before someone else's work.  I'm also trying to put in extra hours so I can leave early on Friday, but I don't think that's going to happen.

I'm hopefully going to Gatlinburg this weekend with Mother, Daddy and Emma.  I'm going to take my DSLR, so maybe I'll manage to get some decent shots of Emma.  She did just get a haircut, so you can see her eyes for a change.  Also, since she looks more like a squirrel than a bear, maybe we won't have to worry as much about her being taken in by the Mama Bear (yes, we have a bear and two cubs at our condo) as a wayward cub?

Please bear with me until after September 15.  I'm really hoping that October 15 (individual returns that were extended are due) will not be as bad for me since I only have three individual clients as of now (knock on wood!)

Florence Fun

I spent the weekend in Florence again visiting with my family and trying to help Mom.  It's always good to go back home and visit with friends and family.  Even though I'm always quite tired from getting home late, I'm so glad every time I get the chance to go home.  Sorry, but no pictures during this trip.  The only picture-worthy moment was when I was alone with Grandaddy and I'm not very good at self-portraits.  To be honest, my camera was the last thing on my mind during those precious moments.

It's funny how confused I make people when I say I'm going home.  Home has multiple meanings to me--my house here in Brentwood, Florence and specifically my parent's house.  I've taken to saying I'm going "home to Alabama" when I'm at work because so many people were confused and didn't understand that I was going home to Florence instead of home to Brentwood.  This probably makes no sense--oh, well...

Friday, traffic was awful, as per usual especially on a Friday night.  There was a wreck at my exit, so I had to get off the interstate two exits early and work my way through a few neighborhoods to get home.  Once I finally got there, I had to get my things together and get Emma ready for a car ride.  I don't know how a "child" (yes, she's my fur child) of mine can hate to ride in the car so much.  It's not that I love it, but I'm in the car so much that I've learned to accept is as a necessary evil--and a two hour drive is SO much better than the 4+ hour drive to Auburn.  Emma, however, hates any and all car rides with a passion.  She shakes and whines every time (except for a few very nerve-wracking times when Daddy lets her sit beside him instead of in her crate).  Also, as I was loading the car, my 7 year old neighbor wanted to play with Emma.  She's not too fond of this little boy, but I didn't want to be rude, so I let her play for a minute before finally getting to leave Nashville.  By this point, it was after 7PM.  I spent a good bit of the drive talking to my good friend Molly and, before I knew it, I was in Florence.  I watched some TV with Daddy while we waited for Mother to get home from putting Grandaddy to bed.  Not long after, we all went back to the bedrooms and I read for a while before going to sleep.

Saturday, Emma decided she needed to visit Mother and Daddy sometime between 3 and 5 o'clock (I couldn't see the clock from the bed without my glasses) in the morning.  After fussing at her for a while, I finally put her in bed with Mother and went back to sleep.  When I did decided to get up, it was time to start the laundry and do a few other things around the house.  I also ran to Muscle Shoals to our Vet to get Emma her "special" food.  She's delicate, so she needs "special" food---actually, it's just something that she will eat!! After that, I visited with Grandaddy and fed him lunch.  In between sitting with him in the living room and the den, I made him shave.  Sometimes, I'm the only one that he will listen to.  It was so nice to have some quality time with him, though.  Grams and I were/are hand holders, so it's nice to sit with him and hold his hand like she and I used to do.  I went home for a while before coming back to tuck him in to bed.  It about broke my heart when he said he couldn't go to bed because he didn't know where Grams was.  Thankfully, I got him to sleep without many more questions and Mother and I were able to go back home.

Sunday, I went to choir practice and church.  I also managed to get a lesson on pie crusts aided by napkins and reading glasses!!  It was pretty funny, but an effective lesson nonetheless!  I'll have to try out my new skills this weekend and report back on my progress.  I'm always so glad to get the opportunity to sing with my choir friends.  I'm already looking forward to learning this year's Christmas Cantata.  I also heard that the Back-to-Choir party might be hoppin' this year--I think I'll need to take off early for that party! :)

After lunch, it was back to Grandaddy's house.  I'm sure he doesn't remember it now, but it was so peaceful to sit on the sofa with him, hold his hand and rest my head on his shoulder.  Definitely a memory to cherish!

I needed a little Sunday afternoon nap before heading back to Nashville.  Emma is getting a haircut, so I made the return trip alone.  If I didn't think I had OCD before, it was confirmed when I couldn't sleep because I hadn't completely unpacked.  Once I unpacked (and scrubbed my kitchen with Clorox wipes), it was time for bed.  I think I checked four times that I'd turned my alarm back on (I did), but it always worries me after a weekend.

This weekend was over much too soon!  I'm so looking forward for Labor Day Weekend and an extra day off from work!