Flickr

I actually took the time to configure a flickr. It's here.

Not much photography yet, but I plan to be more proactive regarding its existence in the future.

Chocolate Chip Saga--Pt. II

I will preface this by admitting to myself that nobody really cares about my adventures in baking. Readers (if there are any, which is somewhat debatable) may even find my meandering sentences about cookies and cakes extremely boring.

However, I cannot be stopped. My love for the chocolate chip cookie is too great.

A few nights ago, the mood struck. I needed chocolate chip cookies, and I still had experimenting with proportions to do. This time, I used the same recipe as before, but instead of decreasing the flour further, I increased the butter just a little--from one stick to one and a quarter. I increased the vanilla from one teaspoon to two. I increased the amount of salt from (as I recall) a quarter teaspoon to a half teaspoon. I didn't use the liquid called for in the original recipe, because I cut down the flour enough that the batter wasn't at all dry. In addition, I added about one and a quarter bags of chocolate chips, because...well, because I love chocolate. I also added a cup of pecan pieces, because the chocolate chip cookies I enjoyed so much in the past usually contained pecans. Unlike last time I baked these cookies, I did not leave the dough overnight, because I wanted cookies immediately.

Wow. These cookies were great. The increased butter, vanilla and salt gave them a greater depth of flavor, and the high proportion of chocolate made this batch extra-delicious. They didn't spread out during baking; I feel I've achieved a good balance between flavorful, buttery but also cakey and not greasy. Best of all, I made these smaller than usual--as a result, I have many, many cookies. Surprisingly for how much I enjoy baking, I move through cookies and sweets very slowly (I don't actually have much of a sweet tooth, besides my love for certain chocolate and these cookies). I'm looking forward to enjoying these with friends over the next few weeks. They keep really well, an added bonus for someone without much of an appetite for dessert.

So, here is the recipe. I couldn't resist posting it, because I'm proud of how delicious it is.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 bags semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans or pecan pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Combine flour, baking soda and salt, then set aside.

In another bowl, cream butter and white sugar, then add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Slowly beat in flour mixture, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. When finished, stir in the nuts and the chocolate chips.

Grab a spoon, and drop bits of dough (roughly a tablespoon) onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about an inch to an inch and a half apart. If you want smaller cookies, you can go with a roughly a teaspoon of dough per cookie.

Bake for 10 to 15 min. (I baked mine for 12 and they were perfect, but my oven is from the 1950s, so newer ovens will inevitably produce different results.) Enjoy!

P.S. While baking, I highly recommend playing some music. My playlist for this batch of cookies included Animal Collective, Starfucker, and MGMT (among others)....awful, maybe, but strangely energizing.

Well, I did it!

All my hard work paid off--I won the Germany scholarship. My mind is just...racing, as I attempt to process this information.

I.

Cannot.

Believe.

I thought I would be finding out in April, but I found out this afternoon--just five days after being interviewed by a panel of judges. I find myself wondering how this happened, only to realize that, after putting so much effort into the application process, I should have been more surprised if I didn't get it. I'm extremely grateful to the judges, who were friendly, accommodating, and generally just amazing people. I was sick with a fever, and they rescheduled my interview so that I could have a thirty minute conversation with them. How cool is that?!

Now all I need to do is call my German grandmother, as she'll be overjoyed. She already told her German friends about this.