Diary of an Amateur: cooking, sewing, quilting, discovering, etc.: Some Insight into Kat's Baking Habits

Any baker worth their salt has some go-to recipes for those times when you desperately need something quick and easy. And what recipe is more "go-to" than chocolate chip cookies? That's right-the cookie beloved by all. Said to be invented by Ruth Wakefield in 1930, it immediately gained attraction and spread from Massachusetts across the United States like a sweet plague.

I have tried many different recipes for the beloved cookie. In my experience, the most popular of all chocolate chip cookie recipes is the one on the back of the Kroger semi-sweet chocolate chip package. That's right, Kroger. It is so popular that I wrote it down in my cookbook just in case they decide to change their recipe in the future. I made these cookies a few weeks ago for work and they loved them. When I asked my co-worker what kind of treat she wanted for her birthday she named these easy-peasy cookies. I was happy to oblige.

The recipe calls for you to mix the flour, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. For about 20 years of my life I never, ever did this. I just added that stuff in at the end and made my cookies. No one ever complained. But then I found out why recipes ask you to do this. It is so the salt and soda (or baking powder or cinnamon or spices...whatever is called for) blends more into the flour mixture and, therefore, into the cookies themselves. With my previous method I might have a cookie that was more salty than another or some other difference. Combining separately might add one more bowl to clean but it makes more uniformly delicious cookies. Just try it out and see. And you don't have to get another spoon dirty; just use your measuring spoon.

I always measure my salt over the sink whether in cooking or baking. I find that when I don't, my results are saltier. I don't know if there is leakage happening but this has been working for me for years. I also always measure scantly on the salt...almost but not quite what is called for.

About ten years ago I was making some brownies from scratch. It was a recipe I hadn't tried before. I can still remember what apartment I lived in, who my roommate was and which recipe it was. It remains so ingrained in my mind because of the unlucky fate of my brownies. After mixing the butter and sugars and chocolate I went to add the egg. I added it directly to the mixture. Too bad it was a rotten egg. The stench was terrible. Not to mention I had just wasted all my time and ingredients because of one sneaky egg. I had to toss everything right then and there and start over. Since then (ten years people), when I have to add an egg to a mixture I always, always, always crack the egg in a different container. Now ask me how many rotten eggs I have had in my life. Just one. That's right. I go to all this effort every time because my brownie making excitement left such a deep scar on my psyche. But ask yourself...'If this egg is rotten how can I know it? If it is, do I really want to waste the butter and sugars and batter and have to start all over?' It just makes sense, right? Just use one of your already used measuring cups. One egg fits into a 1/4 cup measure.

Here is my last tip. I use a cooling rack for my cookies. Most, but not all, people do. I usually put a towel under it for easy clean-up. Any crumbs go directly onto the towel that you can then brush off in the sink, trash, or outside (not recommended unless you want more animals around). That way, you don't have crumbs all over your counter AND you don't have to worry about the condition of your counter before you make cookies. NOTE* This method is not suitable if you are adding frosting or glaze to your cookies. It is way easier to clean frosting off the counter than a towel.