cookeez

I've made normal Toll House cookies—regular flour, regular sugar—for the family I'm meeting later today. The recipe I used makes enough dough for about 35 cookies. I once again used almond extract instead of vanilla extract, and the nuts this time around are cashews. I used a combination of Ghirardelli chips and those awesome, no-name chips I just blogged about. Here's the batch that came out almost perfectly:

Alas, most of the other batches weren't nearly as good. Those batches were in smaller trays, which meant turning down the oven temp and baking for less time. Unfortunately, I didn't turn down the oven enough, and I guess I didn't bake the cookies for a short-enough time because three batches came out with very suntanned bottoms—not enough to qualify as burned, but enough to cause a noticeable change in taste (yes, of course I tasted a cookie from each batch! I suffer for my art). I'd learned my lesson by the final batch, though, and that one came out all right. I had just enough batter to make one more cookie, which I baked all by its lonesome. It came out perfectly in every respect—perfectly round, perfectly browned, and after cooling, perfectly firm. I'll be presenting that cookie to my boss, who has taken to asking me cautiously, "Is this keto?" every time I offer him food. This is a regular cookie, so no—nothing keto this time. Hello, sugar, my old friend.

I packed 15 of the best cookies into a plastic box, and that's what I'll present to the family. The more suntanned cookies can be eaten by my boss and coworker. Or they'll be thrown away.