Chocolate Chunk Cookies
It's the first weekend of SXSW, and you know what that means? I will turn into a hermit and only leave my apartment for necessities. I have gone before, because can you really be an Austinite if you've never been to south by? The first year I went, it was hot and I got a lot of free stuff, but I don't do well in direct sun and crowded environments. The second year I made a 30 minute stop at the game center. The third year, I was there for work at the startup crawl. This year, I will avoid I at all cost and let Snapchat and Instagram show me what I'm missing.
The last few weeks have flown by. The thing I'm most grateful for is that I got promoted at work. I am now the executive assistant to the CEO and couldn't be more excited for what's ahead. I'm not a very patient person, but after keeping my head down and working hard for the last year and a half, I'm reenergized to make my workplace better for everyone. One step at a time!
A few weeks ago, my best friend came down to visit for a long weekend, and it was everything I hoped it would be. You know those people you have in your life that you could do nothing with, just sit on the couch and do nothing with but it's still a great time? She's one of those people, my ride or die. We tried to take in everything Austin has to offer, but sometimes the food comas and our natural laziness got the best of us, but I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.
I'm trying to get better at expressing gratitude for things and people in my life, which for those of you who know me is not my forte. At work, I challenge myself now to call out good deeds or people going above and beyond when before I would just ignore it and brush it off as someone "doing their job". Since my promotion, I've moved seats to sit at the front where guests and employees come through the front door. The front door is one of my biggest pet peeves. It's so loud when people don't catch it and very distracting when it slams shut. There are a select few people though who will catch the door behind them assuring it doesn't slam. The best way I know how to reward people is with baked goods, so naturally I reached out to ask what they wanted, and here we are with some delicious chocolate chunk cookies.
I am a big believer in cookies that are crunchy on the outside, while nice and soft in the middle. The have the most success with this when I make XL cookies, but am trying to perfect it for smaller, more reasonably sized treats. For this batch, I decided to try using rounds instead of proper chips. By chopping the rounds, I got a mixed variety of size pieces that were incorporated into the dough and I think I prefer it to the standard chip.
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white cane sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
two eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups AP flour
2 cups chopped semi-sweet chocolate pieces or chips
Preheat oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit.
With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Once combined, add in the eggs one at a time, followed by the baking soda and vanilla. When the dough is formed, slowly add in the flour. After the flour is incorporated, fold in the chocolate pieces. Scoop* or roll dough into 1-inch sized balls and place on a cookie sheet prepared with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes, and add time as needed.
*For the cookies in the picture I used a large size cookie scoop and had to bake for about 13 minutes.