“Going back to the basics, Strengthens your foundation.” –unknown

Sometimes when you have failures, you have to go back and do something that you are good at to keep from discouraging yourself. When it comes to baking there are multiple things that I make well, but after I have a difficult day when things don’t go my way, I like to make something simple but delicious. Making something simple helps me to find my Zen, which is one of the major reasons that I bake. Everyone should find something that helps them de-stress and puts them into peaceful mindset. For me this is usually baking. For as long as I can remember, mixing up batter, baking it and ending with something beautiful and delicious has always made me appreciate my life and the people in it more. Baking has helped to brighten not only my day, but others as well. When you make something with others in mind, and then share your efforts with them, it becomes a sign of appreciation and people should always feel appreciated. Baking is an art for me, and I put my heart and soul in it. When it doesn’t turn out like I expect, or I fail at something it can be disappointing, but there is always a fall back that keeps me from discouragement.

The chocolate chip cookie is always a crowd favorite, and it’s obvious to see why. Most people love chocolate, and there is something really amazing about brown sugar and butter that makes them extra delicious. It’s always nice to add a little something to your cookies, usually I like to go with caramel or toffee, but today I have my very last package of fresh blueberries for the season, so I think that they may end up in this recipe.

Today is about going back to basics, and making something that helps me find my peace and makes others happy to see and eat it.

Zen Chocolate Chip cookies-with extra!

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

2 ¼ cup flour

12-ounces (1 bag) chocolate chips

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Extra bit- 8 ounces fresh blueberries

• Use triangle attachment

• Mix sugars, butter until smooth

• Add in eggs, baking soda, vanilla

• Slowly add flour

• As Mix begins to come together and form around attachment, add in chocolate chips

• Dough will form around attachment like a ball.

• Fold in blueberries

• Let chill one hour

*You can just put all ingredients in mixer and let it go!

Ready to Bake

• Pre-heat oven to 375 F or 190 C

• Line baking sheets with parchment paper/wax paper or grease

• Scoop about a soup spoon amount of dough per cookie, or as large/small as you want

• Bake for about 12 minutes

• I like mine to get a little golden on the top for a crunch on the outside but soft on the inside.

*Baker’s notes:

There are some things that you can add ingredients in a jumble or out of order, but for cookies, it is best to follow the recipe to the letter. The ingredients in chocolate chip cookies combine perfectly to make a delicious cookie, but really the most important part is the butter. Too much and the cookies will melt when they bake and become flat, this is fine if you like your cookies that way. Too little and the cookies will not have the right texture and the dough will not come together as it should. Sometimes, when I start mixing everything together, I worry that I have the butter off (I don’t always measure when I bake), but then the dough starts to come together to form the ball and I can hear my mom saying, “That’s how you know you got it right.” Chocolate chip cookies are a great reflection of life. They are simple and elegant at the same time. When you make them you throw everything together in a bowl and the right ingredients will make it come together to form a beautiful dough. I don’t have any real notes for these cookies, except maybe to be patient and gentle with the blueberries, they are delicate and if you want them to stay whole you need to treat them with respect.

Overall, these cookies did their job. While I made these cookies, I had time to kill, and I was pretty chill, so I scrubbed my kitchen. Just so you know, I hate to clean, but I do it frequently because I also hate it to be messy or dirty. Last night was a night when I was frustrated and really didn’t want anything to do with cleaning, so my kitchen was a little messy (it had dishes in the sink). Today, when I started baking, I was frustrated with the mess, but as I was waiting for the dough to chill I too chilled out and used the free hour to get some cleaning done. Sometimes it is nice to have time to kill and to decide to just do what you can in that time. These are the times when I am most productive, and it always happens when I am making chocolate chip cookies.

#baking #recipes