I’m back to baking. Sort of. In my time out of the kitchen in the month of September, I got quite inspired to start some other types of projects. My biggest one at the moment is sewing balloon curtains for the living room. They are pretty complicated and I’m making them up as I go, so it’s fairly time consuming. I’m also in the process of getting a whole lot of flower bulbs planted around the yard before the ground freezes. So many other things are going on around here in the world of projects and school (midterms this week!) but all is very, very good.
Last week I wanted a quick, throw-together recipe of something that would be easy to give away. I found a bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips in the pantry with a super simple recipe for cookies right on the bag. They turned out chocolaty and crispy and very tasty. The 60% cacao gave them a really great flavor, as opposed to the typical semi-sweet chips. Plus, the Ghirardelli chips are pretty big, which gives a fun look to the final product.
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
In a medium bowl, stir the flour with the baking soda and salt. Set aside for later.
In a stand up mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter with the white sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until incorporated. (I’m quite sure that this would also work just fine without any kind of electric mixer, but I didn’t actually try it.)
Gradually blend the dry mixture into the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop dough onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. I always us a cookie scoop so I end up with uniform cookies. They look lovely. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
If you’re super short on time, you can always skip the parchment paper and spread all of the dough in the bottom of a cookie sheet with edges. Bake until the top is golden brown. I have to try this to figure out how long it will take. It’s been a while since I’ve taken this shortcut, but it’s so worth it if you have company on the way or you just don’t have time to scoop all those little cookies and wait in the kitchen for each pan to finish baking. I’m guessing 20-25 mins*, but don’t quote me on that. I’ll let you know when I try it, which just might be tonight.
My little helper approves this recipe.
