Also, below is a rambling post. If you want to skip the story and head straight to the recipe, I don't blame you. I just needed an outlet for what I have been bottling up. If you skip it all, just know that cookies make everything better. Enjoy!
Ramble-Babble:
Life is funny. Today, I had to turn down an absolutely AMAZING job opportunity. It was my dream job. It was perfect. It was in the city I wanted to be in, working with people I really liked, doing work that I'm extremely passionate about; but (BIG BUT), I need to go home and be with my family right now.
Cruel. Why tease me like this? Why set me up for this? Why put me in this difficult position?!
I like to believe that everything happens for a reason. (Right?) Sometimes, you can't see the reasons right away, but you just have to stay positive and know that, later down the road, you will look back and understand it all. Sometimes, we fall so that we learn to pick ourselves up (yes, I just quoted Batman).
We can struggle with the decisions that we have to make regarding the future and we can question the choices that we have made in the past; BUT we just need to push forward and not look back. Everything happens for a reason. We are meant to experience and feel certain things. Learn from them, and try again. Head up.
Lots of decisions/situations can make you sad. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you remember things will get better. So, EAT A COOKIE and keep trucking.
There is really nothing that can make a person feel better than a warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookie. YUMMM! Can you think of anything more comforting in your time of need?! I think not. Nom Nom Nom coooooookiessss (Yes, I just quoted Sesame Street.)
The Inspiration:
These cookies are Philadelphia inspired. Over the last year or so, I have developed a love for the city, its food, and the Flyers (please make playoffs). If you have never been, GO! It's honestly an amazing place, and I'm happy to have gotten to experience it. It has a bad reputation, but once you give it an honest try, I think you'll fall in love with it as I did. (It only took 4 days for me to make my LA-diehard little sister a Philly fan. Miracles do happen.)
Back to the cookies, though. At some point, a friend told me about the Philadelphia Doubletree Hotel's chocolate chip cookies. They are so good that you can even buy them online.
My sister and I LOVE cookies, so we had to try one. Even in the 19 degree weather, they made us happy and warm inside. Just what a cookie should do.
These cookies are PERFECT. Crunchy, yet gooey. Nutty, yet perfectly chocolatey. Not too thin, but not too thick. All with a slight hint of oatmeal cookie lingering in the background. Just perfect. Really. I can't describe it, you just have to experience it for yourself.
Since you all can't go to the Doubletree Hotel (or want to spend $25 on an online cookie order), I have a copycat recipe for you. I AM BEGGING YOU TO TRY IT!
[I think this version might even be better than the one we bought. No joke.]
The Recipe:
What you'll need:
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (use the good stuff!)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup white sugar
How you make it:
Here's a twist -- DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN! I don't think that I have ever NOT started a recipe with "Preheat your oven to...;" so this is a first. The reason? You have to refrigerate the dough before baking. Preheating will come hours later, don't you worry.
So, the first step -- start by pulsating the oats in a food processor until the oats are semi-fine. Then set them aside.
Then, in a large bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the butter, brown & white sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Once the ingredients are creamed together, add in one egg at a time, until smooth. Now put the hand mixer away. I know you don't want to, but trust me, it makes a difference if you do the rest of this by hand using a spatula. DO IT! WALK AWAY FROM THE HAND MIXER.
Ok, great! Now in a small bowl mix together the oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix it all together. Try not to over-mix, but make sure to get it all well-incorporated. Confused? Yeah, just play it by ear. I'm sure you'll be just fine. Go ahead and throw in the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix again.
Now, you have options. You can either (1) refrigerate the cookie dough bowl for 2-3 hrs as is; (2) you can line a baking sheet, drop large cookie scoops on it and then refrigerate for 2-3hrs that way; or (3) you can drop cookie scoops on a baking sheets and freeze them (once frozen you can put them in a ziplock and keep it for later, as desired, use). Then, bake the cookies for 13-14 mins at 350 degrees. [I really think that's the perfect amount of time for my oven, but every oven is different.]
Here's what I did with my cookie dough. Its a rather long process, but I think it really does result in better cookies.
I popped the cookie bowl in the fridge overnight. The next day, I placed golf-ball sized pieces of cookie-dough on a lined cookie sheet and placed it in the freezer. After 3 hours, I baked some of the cookies at 350 degrees for 13 minutes, checking on them after 10 minutes. The rest of the cookies, I placed in a ziplock and kept them in my freezer for later, as desired, use.
Most people will recommend you allow the cookies to cool completely (and you should if you plan on feeding these cookies to other people), but (1) I am not nearly that patient, (2) I planned on eating all of these cookies, and (3) there is absolutely nothing on the face of this earth that is more amazing than a warm chocolate chip cookie (even it its a crumbly-sticking-to-the-cookiesheet-kinda-mess). No one is watching. Go on and dive in, there's no time for shame at this point.
The perfect thing that will make anyone forget about life's troubles and just be overcome with pure bliss. Enjoy, my friends. Enjoy.
LEGAL TERM: Double Jeopardy
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