Chocolate Chip Cookies!

There is something so American about chocolate chip cookies for dessert! I love this recipe of chocolate chip cookies that I received from a very good friend of mine named Lisa Rowlee and they come with an excellent story: One day my sister was having boy troubles, but they didn't last long because she is now happily married, and we were both hanging out at our great friend's home and she was the kind of woman that when you met her she automatically became your best friend!  As we were hanging out she was talking with my sister and she said, "What do you want right now, Lauren?" And my sister said, "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough..." Our friend jumped right up and made a batch of her amazing chocolate chip cookies and baked off half of the dough and gave the rest of it to my sister! What a great woman!!!!  Once my mother and I tried these cookies we knew that we needed the recipe so that we could make them whenever we wanted some. So we received this recipe through e-mail.  Now you are probably thinking that if these cookies are sooo amazing then where is the recipe so you can make them at home! Well here you go!!!!!

Lisa Rowlee's Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1 Cup Salted Butter (Room Temperature)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs (Room Temperature)
1.5 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
3 Scant Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2-1/2 Cups of Chocolate Chip Mix (1 C Milk, & 3/4 C each semi-sweet and white)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees
2.Mix by hand butter and sugars until it becomes a smooth paste.
3. Add eggs and vanilla mix until just combined.
4. Combine the dry ingredients and whisk to sift them together. Add dry to the wet.
5. Mix until the dough is still slightly crumbly and you can still see a little bit of flour.
6. Add the Chocolate Chips and mix until chips are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
7. Spoon onto baking sheets by the tablespoon and bake in the oven for 11-12 minutes until no longer doughy and golden brown on the sides.
8. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for five minutes and then enjoy with cold milk.

Before Baking...

After Baking...

All that the word scant means is that it doesn't have to be completely 3 cups meaning if it is a little less that doesn't matter...  Also another note I have for you on these cookies is the chocolate chips, I like to use Guittard chocolate chips because they are the least expensive and they have the best flavor, however use which ever kind you like!  Hmmmm... I wonder what happened to one of the cookies on the baked side...
:-D  Thank you again Lisa for sharing this recipe with my family!

How it all got started!!!

Hey Everybody!!!

As everyone that knows me knows, I am currently going to college for culinary arts!!! Most people either just love to eat and create flavors! Me it all started in the summer between sixth and seventh grade... I was flipping television stations and there was NOTHING on and I was just about to turn the television off when I came across a show titled Paula's Home Cooking!  I was intrigued and turned it on, and of course it was half over by then, but still, I watched her make a pork chop with a mango chutney.  Those were two flavors that I had never even heard of or even thought of putting together, and it made me want to pursue a career in food.  Well that recipe and of course her charming southern wit is the start of a fascinating journey that is still happening! And I hope you will take that journey with me as I tell some stories as to how I got from a pre-teen wanting to learn how to cook professionally, and my continuing journey of going to cooking school!!!  I don't know what my future has in store for me but I am anxious to find out!!!  Don't worry I will post recipes and pictures!!!