The Oven, The Bowl, and "The Chewy"

When I talk to other people about their family trips as kids, Disneyland or amusement parks almost always come up.  It is a reasonable trend; these places have candy, lots of bright colors and over-sized characters with whom to take pictures. 

I can't say that I didn't have these experiences as a kid.  I can, however, say that they aren't the most prominent ones.  Apparently, we went to Disneyland a whole bunch of times when I was 'too young to remember'. (Side note:  Does anyone else thing that parents say stuff like that when they don't want questions about things?  I mean, you can't really make an argument because they tell you why you can't remember!  In conclusion, quite infuriating.)

But I digress.  Anyway, as I was growing up, a lot of our trips became educational:  Disneyland (or Magic Kingdom) was replaced by Epcot; we went for more hikes; and car rides weren't direct to the beach but scenic routes with a historical sites (like old train stations) included.

Another thing I really remember is watching Bill Nye the Science Guy.  How popular is he throughout the world?  I'm wondering because I'm pretty sure that was a pretty awesome show.  It was so awesome, in fact, that they still used the videos to teach us a lesson in grade school.  Well, in retrospect,  I guess it could also have been a successful method of keeping us quiet and compliant.  Oh well!

So, just why are we talking about Bill Nye the Science Guy?  It is related, I promise you that much!  After a long while of being separated through time (and opportunity) from Bill Nye, I found Alton Brown while keeping the Food Network on the tv in the next room.  'Good Eats' is pretty neat because, instead of just telling you how to do things (mix ingredients, put in oven, consume) you also get tidbits *why* things work or historical facts.  Its sort of neat that way.

And also because it taught me how to make pretty awesome chocolate chip cookies.  Mine spread a little much for my liking, however, the fault is entirely mine; I was on a bit of a deadline and I didn't let the dough chill for as long as it probably should have.  The lesson I'm taking away from this is as follows: "If the recipe says chill the dough, make sure it is cold to the touch before proceeding."

"The Chewy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is there anything that smells as fantastic as melting butter?  I used a bowl over some simmering water to melt the butter slowly while I dealt with the other steps in preparation (top left).  Taking that melted butter and adding sugars, you get this awesome dark brown mixture that, when mixed vigorously until smooth, gives something that is tempting to spread on toast (top right).  Yes, I know it sounds gross, but it looks nearly like caramel!  Then, after the batter is completely mixed, the result looks pretty sweet on my oven mittens in natural light (bottom).  I may or may not have, shortly after, eaten about half of those.  ^__^;;;

What You'll Need:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour (To the bulk foods store!  I know, a little silly, but I don't make bread often so I do not commonly have this stuff just lying around.  Also, I don't make these often enough to justify buying a whole bag.)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar (Sweet.  Literally!)
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar (I finally found a brown sugar puck!  I tried to find a clay pot, but there aren't any plant stores nearby.  I was very sad, but the puck works just the same I think.)
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp milk (I told you before that I don't drink a lot of milk so I had to use the soy milk.  I didn't find a large difference so I'd say the switch was an overall win.)
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract (Mmm... Vanilla....)
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (I only used about 1 cup.  I like my cookies with some chocolate, not the other way around.  I will say that I have indeed done it with two cups and, I don't know what chips other people use, but it is just way too much chocolate for me!)

How It's Done:

1. Preheat the cookie baker to 375F.
2. Put the butter in a dish over a bowl of hot water and let it melt away.  (Alternatively, you can do it in the microwave, but I like the control that you get with the double burner set-up rather than having to camp out the microwave to prevent nuclear hot butter from going just about everywhere.  Its a cleaning time reduction quirk of mine.)
3. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda then set aside.  (I added the salt straight then sifted the rest.  I also used a whisk.  Just for good measure.)
4. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed with a mixer.  (I didn't have a mixer and so I attacked the butter and sugars with a whisk.  I would highly suggest using the mixer though.  These babies were much easier to make when I had one!)
5. Add the egg, yolk, milk and vanilla to the butter/sugars and mix until smooth and homogeneous.
6. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients from before and make sure there are no lumps.
7. Dump in the chocolate chips of awesome-ness!
8. Shove the dough in the fridge and chill for a while.
9. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment covered baking sheet, 6 cookies per batch.  (The cookies do spread out so by only making six at a time, you can get some good space and prevent one large cookie catastrophe.  Unless you like eating these as much as I do.  In that case, maybe test how many you can fit on a sheet at one time for the first batch! ^__^)
10. Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden (and a little bit darker around the edges).
11. Remove and let cool on the sheet for a bit then move to a rack.  (I only let them cool for a few seconds before moving them because... I've dropped a few batches in the past and they have crumbled and it gets everywhere and... well, I had mentioned about my aversion to drawn out cooking, yes?  Anyway, by letting them cool for a short while, they get a bit firm around the edges before I move 'em! ^__^  In short, crisis averted!)
12. Store them in an airtight container and enjoy!

This recipe is brought to you by Alton Brown via 'Good Eats'.  However, because its hard to watch an episode and remember everything exactly as you saw it, Food Network is pretty cool about hosting all the recipes.  That being said, the original recipe (without all of the short-cuts I had to take due to a lack of mixer and, well, a couple of other kitchen-related devices) can be found on the Food Network website.  Oh and, while you're there, you may also want to check out his recipe for coconut cake done with a real coconut.  There's something to be said about fresh ingredients, you know!