I write stories every day and even if I do a recipe I need a story:)
So here is my recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Okay in my mind:)
Come to the Dark Side- I Have Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Besides my smile, I am also known for two things - my chocolate chip cookies,and my brownies.
I have literally carried around these recipes for years in my purse, as well as notations for my Apple Crisp and Fake Greek Moussaka Casserole. Before I got Celiac disease, I would make these cookies all the time. The smell alone would bring a smile to my face; now I just make them for family and friends.
I secretly called the recipe "My Dark Side Chocolate Chip Cookies".
Everyone has a dark side somewhere even if some people do not admit it. Mine lasted for years, until a lovely doctor from Trinidad found out I did not have emotional issues that everyone else thought I had. No, she realized right away that I had brain damage in the temporal lobe from a difficult forceps birth. Further tests proved her correct, and my life became 100% better with her help.
The night before I found the Doctor that saved my life, I stupidly tried to overdose on a bottle of prescription medicine for the millionth time. The next day, still alive, I realized a solution needed to be found. I could no longer live like that, and reluctantly, I checked myself into The Royal Ottawa Hospital that very afternoon.
I quickly found out I did not fit into this place, and wanted out, as soon as I got in. They insisted I had to spend the night, and my fate would be decided the next morning.
So, that night I shared a room with two other women. One had almost killed her mother, and the other had to wear a shower cap, as she continually pulled out her hair.
The week before, I had been given a real bad haircut, and realized after a few hours that I was still wearing one of my really cool wigs. As I removed the wig to go to sleep, the woman that had the hair issue started to scream.
This "hairy" removal was seriously bothering her, and she was making a huge scene. I feared she might make my issues worse, so I quickly dove into my purse and handed her a small bag that held two of my homemade chocolate chip cookies. After looking at them closely, and then slowly biting into one, she quickly started to smile and laughed about my wig.
Whew! The hair raising dilemma was over!
The next morning after an EEG they agreed my issue could be handled as an out patient, and I was released. I can still remember to this day walking out the front door and smelling nothing but the fresh air. I immediately went home and made more cookies.
This was not the only time my chocolate chip cookies came to save the day. The next time was documented in the Ottawa Xpress. They were the cookies that stopped a fight between the Vancouver punk rock band Gob and a nasty bar owner.
But, that my friends is another story.
Images and Words by Linda Seccaspina 2011
Here lies the recipe for The Dark Side Chocolate Chip Cookies.
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup butter, at room temperature
* 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
1. Are you ready?
2. Heat oven to 350º.
3. Mix flour and baking soda.
4. Beat butter about 1 minute until fluffy.
5. Add sugars, vanilla and salt.
6. Beat until thick and pale, 1 to 2 minutes.
7. Beat in eggs until just blended.
8. With spoon, stir in flour mixture, then chocolate and nuts.
9. Drop about 2 tablespoons dough per cookie on ungreased cookie sheets, placing 6 on each sheet.
Bake about 10-12 minutes..
I never ever over bake a cookie. I always touch it to see if it's firm on top and take it out. It's a nice soft cookie.
If you would care for a crisper one, bake it the full 12 minutes.