Made With ♥ Monday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from here)

If home were a mouthful, I have little doubt that it would taste like a warm, soft, fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie. Rainy days, job interviews, new schools, first dates, disappointments and unexpected pockets of joy - life is full of moments that demand comfort. And for me, as much as my body may loathe me for it (except for my stomach. We've always been BFFS), that means chocolate chip cookies. I am constantly on the hunt for the perfect recipe - something chewy and soft, without deviating too far from the taste that I grew up with. This, my friends, is attempt number one.

You'll need:

1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups softened butter or margarine
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons instant coffee powder (depends how strong you take your cookies)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1 or 2 handfuls of chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and grease a couple of cookie sheets. This is where the fun begins.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add cocoa powder, coffee powder (you can dissolve this in a bit of warm water first, if you'd prefer the flavor a little more evenly spread. If you're in a rush, though, don't bother - the cookies should taste great anyways), vanilla and eggs and mix till well combined. The coffee's entirely optional--I found it added a little more depth of flavor, but also made it hard to sleep after scarfing three of these right before bed. So worth it.

Add dry ingredients and mix--with a spoon or your bare hands--until you don't see anymore white. Stir in chocolate chips and anything you'd like (nuts, seeds, oats, peanut butter, etc. The possibilities are endless. Except for raw meat. That's the end, right over there).

Scoop small mounds of cookie dough onto cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes. I like my cookies pretty much as big as is physically possible--if you're like me, form a ball out of a small handful of dough, and pat it down a little to help it spread. Positive vibes, love and - oh right - ovens will take care of the rest.

Let cookies rest on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool. Or, wolf them down, pausing just long enough to calm your burning tongue with a tall glass of soy milk. To each their own.

Happy baking, no matter what day of the week it is!

Good Books Come to Those Who Wait

I like to treat my bedroom like a library - when I need something to read, I hop up on a stool and scan the shelves, pick out a few prospects, read the first few pages - but most importantly I rely on the feeling that the books give me. I firmly believe that there's a place and a time for every book, and, more than that, a book perfect for every occasion and every new stage in a person's life.

You just have to wait.

Yesterday I started reading The Time Traveler's Wife, a book that's been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now. And I love it. I absolutely love it. But I can remember a year or so ago when I picked it up, read a few lines, and put it back. Because I wasn't ready for it and it wasn't ready for me.

Books are like boyfriends. If you're right together, things will just jive - but if you try to force anything, you'll both end up hurt. That's an awkward analogy in many respects. For one thing, when's the last time you left your boyfriend in the car and forgot about him for weeks on end? Or borrowed your boyfriend from a friend only to give him back in a few weeks after trying your best to make it work, but not feeling the same kind of love that she did? Or, when's the last time you and your friends all had the same boyfriend for a month or so, and met up in a coffee shop to share your thoughts about him over sweet tea and comfy chairs?

Don't answer that.

A good book is always worth the wait. If you try to rush things, you won't be ready for all the wisdom, heartache and joy that good book has to offer. I'm certainly no expert on wisdom, but I've had my fair share of the latter two in my eighteen years and I get crazy, heart-pounding, head-spinning excited when I read a book that puts into words exactly what I've been feeling.

That's why I like to let my books (and my boyfriends? Nope, still weird) age for a little while. They might collect dust, yellow a bit around the edges and drop off bestseller lists. But that's okay, because when we do find each other, when the time is right, there is just nothing like it. A good book will always be there, sitting on the shelf, spine out, proudly declaring: This is me. And I'm here. Come and get me when you're ready. A good book will wait.