BEST SOFT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

So we are back in Minneapolis after a glorious 6 month long holiday in Kannur. If you ask me if it was tough coming back, honestly, it was like a new life because I totally forgot that I had a life in Minneapolis before! Staying with your parents is the best thing ever because it's like you never left home and you are at the place where you can truly be yourself.Everything around you is at the most familiar,the places and faces that you saw growing up, the aroma of your Amma's food, the most familiar voices... I hope one day Ian & Zara will have the same fondness for their sweet home as much I have for mine.

So before we left Kannur, Ian had asked me if I could bake some Chocolate Chip Cookies for him. I promised to do so but it totally didn't happen till he asked me again yesterday. We were out of chocolate chips, sugar and flour (oh yes, being away for 6 months can make that happen!) then so Jobin & I took him along with an excited little Zara to do some shopping at Target. We strapped them both onto the shopping cart and Zara couldn't stop giggling and smiling. She thinks that's the coolest thing ever,for now. Let's see how long that will last! Anyway,we came back home with a big haul of goodies to make his cookies.

So Zara is that Baby who loves to eat. She is just like how Ian was at 7 months...she will wake up when there's food around her! I am not kidding one bit...when we took her to India, she was barely two months old. She was a very sleepy baby who would sleep throughout the day and night except when the food was being served. She would wake up crying when the air-hostess brought us our food. Amma and I observed it for a couple of times and we laughed out so loudly once we figured it out. It's still the same and I am not complaining one bit because it's so easy to raise a child who loves to eat! I have warned Jobin that I might have to start a home canteen pretty soon since the 4 of us live to eat!

She sleeps the best on our couch during the day,so with her 'swabhavam' like that, I was pretty sure she would wake up when I was taking pictures of these cookies. And she did. She just rolled over to her side, opened her big wide eyes and saw me sitting with a plateful of cookies. She just pounced at me with one hand stretched out to grab them! How one earth did she know they were edible? :-) Well,the next 10 minutes were spent in sharing some cookies with her. Luckily, Jobin came home early from work, so I could continue taking the pictures without the Baby Cookie Monster lurking around!

Coming back to these cookies. They are super tasty and so awesome! I've been eyeing them ever since Lindsay posted it on her blog a couple years ago. If you are looking for a crisp cookie,like the Parle Hide 'n Seek we get in India, this is not the recipe for you. This particular cookie is soft all the way. There are no crisp edges with a soft center. If you want a recipe for that, please check out my old take on the Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are very good too!

BEST SOFT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Makes 12

Ingredients:
113 grams / 8 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon  baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups chocolate chips*

Method: Preheat the oven to 350F and keep a cookie sheet ready. You don't have to line it.
Melt the butter in the microwave for a short 40 seconds, you just want to melt it and not heat it up. Add both the sugars to it and beat with a hand mixer until creamy,for a minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until it's mixed and turns pale,about 30 seconds. Do not over beat,mixture will become stiff. Add the dry ingredients and mix with the hand blender till it forms a crumbled mass, 20-30 seconds. It will be a soft non sticky dough. Add in the chocolate chips and fold it in using a spatula or your hands. Divide them into 12 balls and place them on your cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Do not over bake. They will puff up and look pale at the end of 11 minutes. Take it out of the oven and leave it to cool on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes.
Enjoy! Store the extras,if any in an airtight container.

*The chocolate chips we get here in the United States are fairly huge compared to what we get in India. So please add more chocolate chips,if you want to. If I were you, I would add atleast 1 1/4 cups.

It was Jobin's birthday two days ago,on the 4th. As always, I made Lamingtons for him and Butter Naan with Green Chicken Kurma for dinner. It's funny because everytime I make Lamingtons for him, it feels just like yesterday.Years are flying by and when you have kids,it's like a whirlwind just hit you. You just don't realise what's going on until you stop in your path,breathe and look around.My Monkeys are keeping me on my toes and since that's pretty much the only exercise I get these days,I will happily take that!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES...for the cookie monster

' I don't drown my sorrows; I suffocate them with Chocolate Chip Cookies. '

~Author Unknown~

Iam a cookie monster, yes, I really am! I love cookies,especially Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not those that you get in the packaged form, but the freshly baked ones. The ones which have a soft centre and caramelised edges. The ones that have melted chocolate chips inside. The ones that are so good that you can eat a bagful in one go! These cookies are exactly all that I just described above.

There's a cookie shop in the Skyway close to our apartment. I've tried their cookies once and that was when I went Christmas Shopping for Jobin , a few hours before we took off to Virginia to celebrate Christmas .I knew I would be late and he would be home by the time I got home with the gift and he would see it in my hands...but I had no choice, so I bought a cookie & munched on it while I shopped .

When I reached home, I tried to open the door as quietly as possible but he was right there...as in right there...standing there right opposite to where I was standing! I put on the best acting suit that I had and pushed the gift into the closet and closed the door.He smiled a very broad smile and acted as if nothing happened. Later he asked me where I had been all this while. I told him that I just went for a walk in the Skyway (and he knows how much I hate to walk!) and ate a cookie. He smiled even more this time and said,' You walked all the way for a cookie? Someone went to buy me a gift!!'. Uh-oh! He knew it! Ummm...it's okay...it was obvious! I couldn't help it :-)

Since then that Cookie Shop fascinated me and I wanted to bake those cookies at home.Therefore the hunt was on and almost after a month, I found these cookies and didn't let them go. I tried it and was very pleased with the results. No more Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe hunt for me :) If you like the slice and bake types, you can try my Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie...those were really good too!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Recipe Source: Alice from Sweet Savoury Life
(I halved the recipe and got 9 large and 9 medium sized cookies)

Ingredients:
1 c unsalted butter
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 c (12 oz) all purpose flour. Please weigh if possible.
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 1/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 360 F and line 2 cookie sheets.

Cream the butter and sugar on medium high (for Kitchen Aid) or high (for hand held mixer) for 3 mins.
Add both the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 mins.
Add the dry ingredients and beat well to incorporate.
Add the chocolate chips and mix till well distributed.
The cookie batter should be somewhat thick, that is, you can shape it with you fingers easily.
Drop about 2 tbsp of cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet with 1.5" gap between each .
Bake for 12-14 mins until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the cookies be on the sheet for 2 mins. After that transfer them to a cooling rack to cool.
Once cooled, store in an airtight container.

Verdict: I think everyone should give this recipe a try, it's really good. The brown sugar plays an important role in the taste and texture of this cookie. As I said before, this cookie has a soft centre and caramelised edges which makes you want one more, everytime!

Just wanted to tell you guys how happy I am with my Christmas Gift, my camera, that I have not been editing photos at all! Is it just the camera or is it me taking better photographs? Whatever it maybe, I'm happy :) Happy Friday!