Cookies

So far, my only pregnancy craving is chewy homemade cookies. Which is basically a completely rational regular-person craving, so I'm not sure it counts.

I made the snickerdoodles pictured here today because Will likes snickerdoodles and I'd never made any. They're pretty good. I made some tasty, very classic lemon bars last weekend. I made some cornmeal-lemon cookies. But the best cookie I've made recently is a very simple chocolate chip cookie.

The New York Times Magazine ran a story back in 2006 with different recipes for three different styles of chocolate chip cookies: thin and crisp; flat and chewy; and thick and gooey. The flat and chewy recipe is pretty good -- with several modifications.

I'm not really a fan of the underbaked-cookie thing that's so popular recently -- I like cookies that are caramelized and tan and a tiny bit crispy on the bottoms. But I like them to be chewy at the same time. Never cakey. Not too chocolatey. This recipe hits all the right points. It also has kosher salt and lots of vanilla extract, both of which give it a fancy bakery edge. The whole wheat flour is optional, of course, but I like how it darkens the dough.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 T kosher salt

8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
1 and 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract

1 bag (2 scant cups) chocolate chunks

Whisk together dry ingredients. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer, then beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients until just combined, then chocolate.

Chill dough at least 1 hour. Drop onto cookie sheets. Bake at 325 for 15-ish minutes.

Note: this recipe makes a lot of cookies, especially if you make them pretty small, which I do. I froze half the dough and defrosted it the next week; tasted even better.