Drop It Like It's Hot

Apparently, I like to bake cookies in the middle of the summer so that my kitchen temperature practically doubles. This way the cookies stay warm for even longer.

July 24 2007
Name of cookie: Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Occasion: High Temperatures
Constituents: chocolate chip cookies using Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips

And again, no camera, no photos. :(

I actually don't like dark chocolate much at all, and I really don't like Hershey's Special Dark as a candy bar. But, I baked these with the plan of sending some of them to the Stinky, since every time he hears I'm baking something he wistfully mumbles, "I'd like some of that too."

I could retort something like, "if we lived together you could." But that would be mean.

So instead, I decided I'd placate him with half a batch of cookies. This benefits me, too, as I get some cookies but NOT ALL. Because I would happily eat ALL of them, probably within 4 days!

But I digress. I baked these cookies with the plan of sending half to Stinky, and he LOVES dark chocolate. In fact, he loves it so much he almost couldn't understand when I told him I didn't like dark chocolate much at all. I like my chocolate creamy. I like milk chocolate.

However, since I love Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, I thought I'd try their Special Dark chocolate chips. Although to be honest, semi sweet chips are pretty much what I would consider dark chocolate.

(By the way, yesterday wasn't really that hot, but after a nice little respite where it rained a lot and I was wearing long sleeved shirts and even once broke out a SWEATER OMG, Portland has turned its face back to summer. Yesterday was pleasantly warm with a breeze, but when I looked back to the last time I baked chocolate chip cookies, it was last June during a nasty heat wave. I thought it made a better story this way.)

I used the recipe right off the back of the package, except that I used golden baker's sugar instead of white sugar, and only 1 packed cup of dark brown sugar instead of 1.25 cups of packed light brown sugar.

I forgot how easy these cookies are to whip up. Even dropping them went really fast--I think I was really on it last night or something. I had my cookie sheets stacked right next to the bowl, I had my two spoons and I just went to town. Seriously--I don't think I've ever satisfactorily dropped cookies at such a rate!

I purposely slightly overcooked a sheet or two of cookies, which gave them that slightly overbrowned bottom and yummy caramelized taste that I love. The other two sheets I baked just until golden brown and a little mushy in the middle, and set them off to cool.

Cookies are good times. It was my mom's Sunset Cookie book that got me into baking in the first place. They have this recipe for chocolate chip cookies that is totally out of control. You use butter AND shortening, TWO bags of chips, and probably way too much sugar. You also add a little cinnamon, which I really liked. Not everybody did.

I would bake cookies for my friends at Christmas, for family functions, and in the middle of the night out of boredom. One summer, when my parents took a month's vacation, (leaving two teenagers at home with a neighbor in her early 20's--can we say party?) my friends were kind of permanently at our house (two of them even stayed with us for a week or two). The boys would be outside trying to help Brian fix his Thing, and I'd bake cookies for all of us and it felt like I was the mother hen of our little group. And that felt so great to me. I knew then how much pleasure I would have when I had kids and a family of my own that I could bake for.

Our house was the one that everyone liked to come over and hang out at--my sister's friends (the popular girls) and my friends (the freaks and geeks) would all watch Days of Our Lives and eat Cool Ranch Doritos together. My parents loved having all of our friends over and they made sure my friends knew how welcome they were. My mom was the surrogate mom to all of our friends, especially those from broken homes. They loved my mom so much, and in return she mothered us all.

That's the kind of mom I will be one day, and we'll have the kind of house that everyone wants to hang out at. And I will give them all Type 2 Diabetes from all the crazy shit I'll bake up.

But I digress. The cookies turned out awesome--who knew the recipe on the back of a chocolate chip package would turn out so well?

Comments

  1. oho! zetta gets all excited about the dark chocolate!

    dark chocolate is basically just chocolate with less sugar...kinda like semi sweet...

    i mean, i know that to your lot it's like i'm saying grape juice and a fine cabernet are the same thing, but to people like me, we don't care!

    i love you anyway.

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  2. Anonymous26/7/07 02:59

    I didn't check your blog for one day and then suddenly you post!
    I do like that there are lots of different chocolates available now. What some call 'estate chocolate'. But some are just bitter not better.
    I do like dark chocolate but not bitter! See my post about Rococcco Chocolates in London. Gorgeous lip smacking delicious! They do good milk chocolates too!
    I want some chocolate chip cookies too, Evil. It is very wet here everywhere. Floods unheard of since they have kept records. I'm on a hill so think I will be OK. Just in case, send boat with cookies. Thanks.

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