Of Winter Coats and Cookies

When you live in Southern California, it seems kind of silly to own a winter coat.

You don't get to wear it very often.

So your wacky, kind-of-cheap mother buys you a coat that is too big so it lasts more than one winter.

And then you get to play Fashion Show.

Whether you want to or not.

As always, shoes are entirely optional.

Grammy found a copy of Casper the Friendly Ghost for $5 at the Bullseye Boutique. As you can see, they are horrified at the impact this particular choice will have on Bill Pullman's career.

THE HUMANITY!

What happened to the guy that was in Sleepless in Seattle? What the hell was he thinking?

Mr. Smith has been campaigning for some Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The poor guy works so damn hard that I decided to throw him a bone and make them. I decided to try a new recipe that uses whole wheat flour instead of white flour.

This move was met with, shall we say, resistance?

Luckily, I used our new favorite chocolate chips (see photo and drool).

I have never been a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies. They are good and all. Just not my thing.

I do prefer soft cookies in general.

Mr. Smith claims that these cut his mouth, so I guess I will be donating these to a soup kitchen somewhere. So much for trying a new recipe.

The unique thing about this recipe, you don't let the butter soften. 

You just use it, cold, cut into little pieces. Love it.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined.  

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes

Yield: about 20 cookies


Recipe from Orangette.