Comfort Food: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently started my PhD program and one of courses I'm taking involves a weekly quiz - which constantly leaves me constantly stressed out, cynical and crummy. I'm usually that way anyway, but I swear this course has multiplied all those negative qualities by a billion.


Of course, when stressed, there's nothing better to turn to than alcohol and food. My comfort food is usually an ENORMOUS bowl of pasta, several bottles of ale and one other kind of bad-for-your-hips munchies. Pasta because it fills me up and it involves tons of CHEEZ, beer because it fills me up and it involves tons of hops... and I suppose chocolate chip cookies because it involves tons of gooey yummy melted chocolate.


This recipe is from David Lebovitz's The Great Book of Chocolate - which Deb of SmittenKitchen swears is her favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. So far I think it's mine too! For some reason, the bottom of the cookie is a little crunchy and the center is just soft enough without being mushy. I don't usually like walnuts, but the addition of it I think helped enhance the flavour of the cookies. Also, instead of using just a teaspoon of vanilla, I used two teaspoons and that made the cookies even more yumtastic (yes, yumtastic is a word in the Konosur vocabulary).

I might just pack this up for our trip out on Sunday to see Joe Biden in Tacoma. Chocolate chip cookies and a stop at Harmon Brewing Co. will offset whatever doldrumminess Monday will bring.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Based on David Lebovitz's The Great Book of Chocolate
Makes about 20 cookies (4" diameter)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick)unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (or baking margarine)
1 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (or omit if you use salted butter or margarine)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2 tablespoon balls onto prepared baking sheet, spacing the balls about 4-in apart. I used two tablespoon scoops and mashed them together and dropped them on to the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.