Another birthday has come and gone, and it was another great one! I am so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends! (Even though I do wish we were closer to my parents and sister, but glad I got to see them a couple weeks ago!) I am finally starting to make some really great friends here in town and we had a great dinner and night out. I wish every birthday that comes around I would remember that I am NOT 21 again…because for some reason I play like I am on my birthday! But it was fun, and thank you to everyone who came out and made it great! And no…I did not end up baking my own cake. When it came time to make it, I just felt strange writing happy birthday to me on there. No worries though, I will post that delicious yellow cake recipe someday! Oh, and one of my wonderful friends and coworker got me some great cupcake decorating items and THIS:
Yay…I’m official! Thanks again Bobette!
On a slightly different note, I wanted to show a little bit about our other dog, Emily. Because I talk so much aboug Caleigh, I am sure Emily has some jealousy and there is starting to be a little sibling rivalry. She is much more laid back and relaxed than Caleigh. This picture pretty much captures her whole personality. She LIVES for tennis balls and that couch…that is her couch. She sits there quite often just like this…..she is too much.
Yesterday, despite the pleas from Doug to not do work on my Birthday, I got the urge to make some Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Which for me, baking is not work…but fun, I think he knew this and just didn’t want a mess in the kitchen). I usually just use the easy recipe that is on the back of the nestle bag and it’s great. But I remembered that I have seen a great recipe on some food blogs recently. I searched one of my favorites, Brown Eyed Baker and of course she had these, which she found through Baking Illistrated. The difference between these cookies and regular ones, is that they are made with melted butter and an extra egg yolk. That makes them soft and chewy and just right! I highly recommend doing these next time you do cookies! SO good!! These will be my go to chocolate chip cookies from here on out.
Start by sifting together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. Melt your butter and allow to cool back to warm. Add the melted butter to the 2 sugars and combine.
Add in the egg, yolk and vanilla, then add in your flour mixture until well combined. Throw in the chocolate chips last. This dough is slightly more oily than usual due to the melted butter, but still delicious. (shocking, I like cookie dough, I know).
Another thing Brown Eyed Baker did in her recipe is to roll about 1/4 a cup size of dough into a ball. Pull apart in the middle, roll 90 degrees and squeeze together. This creates a good texture on the top. Place on baking sheet with parchment paper and cooking spray. (A tip for getting that parchment paper to stay in place, rub butter or use cooking spray so that the paper sticks good).
Place in oven for 15-18 minutes, rotating top and bottom until the outside edges are starting to harden but the tops are puffy and soft.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet completely….
And enjoy!
I really wanted to reuse the wrapping paper from one of my gifts again somehow- Have a great week everyone!
Source: Brown Eyed Baker
2 cups plus
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chipsAdjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.
Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix 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 combined. Stir in the chips to taste.
Roll about 1/4 cup of the 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.
Place 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 grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.
Vivienne says
ohhh your choc chips look perfect!! Somehow I can’t get mine to flatten as much as yours!
Happy birthday and what awesome present – your personalised apron!
a frog in the cottage says
they look so chewy !! it is irresistible !!
Laurel says
These really do look perfect! I’m always on the search for my favorite chocolate chip cookie, so I will have to try these out. I’d love for you to submit this to the M&T Spotlight at http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight
Misty says
I LOVE READING AMBER’S BLOG! I WISH THAT I COOKED MORE!
Isabel says
Promise me you’ll make them again when Lent’s over? Please??
Cara Craves... says
Those do look like the perfect cookie!
p.s. your dog is precious!
Mary says
These LOOK perfect!!!!! A must try!!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls