Some Good Ol' Stress Relief

My junior year in high school I realized that when ever I'd get stressed out baking helped to calm me down. The exactness of baking is what makes it so tranquilizing for me, you don't need to think, just measure, just relax. That's exactly what I did, and by the end of my senior year I was known as the person who would bake cookies for pretty much every club I was in. Sadly in college I haven't been able to bake as much as I would like (especially considering my stress level) which has caused baking things to be a rather large deal.

While I was home over break I decided to try to squeeze as much baking as possible into one week, I didn't succeed as much as I'd originally hoped to. But I did find one of the best (according to my Mother and Father) chocolate chip cookie recipe that I'd used so far. I'm not one to eat what I bake, not because I don't trust it but more because I eat enough of the dough or batter to want to eat a ton of the final product. But these cookies were different. I made 2.5 dozen large cookies with this recipe, and by the next evening they were completely gone. I easily ate at least nine of them, with the rest of the batch going to my parents and aunt and uncle.

The recipe is adapted from the "Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake" recipe from foodnetwork.com.

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (I added 3/4 teaspoon of salt since salt makes the cookies taste sweeter)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips & 3/4 cup white chocolate chips (I just dumped the entire bag into the dough)

The directions are pretty standard.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius.
First, cream the butter and sugar until they're completely mixed. Then, add the eggs one at a time to allow for them to fully incorporate into the dough.



Next, mix the dry ingredients (Flour, baking soda, and salt) and mix with a whisk, this ensures that the dry ingredients are mixed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. When you are finished adding the dry ingredients add the vanilla extract and mix. When the vanilla is fully incorporated fold the chocolate chips into the mix.

Spoon the dough onto a cookie sheet and place in the oven. All it to cook for 20-25 minutes (the cookies will appear done on top, but give them a few extra minutes so that the bottom and inside will firm up as well.) When you take them out of the oven let them cool on the pan for about ten minutes and then transfer to a wire rack (if you have one) to fully cool.