So two weeks ago, my computer decided that it no longer gets along with me... after a wonderful 4 year relationship, my most faithful, favorite techie gadget has decided that it has had enough of me and my photography and all my shenanigans. Monday was fine. Tuesday, Safari would not open. Not "it wouldn't load the webpages" - no. It wouldn't open. Period. I'd click on it, it'd bounce around some, and go right back to being stagnant on the dock at the bottom of my homepage. So THANK GOODNESS I had backed up my hard drive the week prior. Otherwise I might have been in VERY big trouble and might have lost a large number of photos and information. Anyway, to make a long story short, I basically could not use the photos I had taken of anything, therefore making a recipe blog completely useless since recipes are absolutely no good without photos (IMHO).
On to today's recipe... my whole life, I loved to bake cookies. But I liked to bake cookies that were made with store bought dough. I'd add my own stuff to the dough - cinnamon and sugar, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc. They would taste great, they really would. But I was kind of scared to try and make my own. And I have no idea why. This was about the easiest thing I could have done. I promised my brother-in-law something for his birthday, and I didn't have the ingredients I needed for cupcakes on hand, but I did have everything for cookies, so I decided to go ahead and try my hand at them. Boy were they good.
However, I wasn't altogether completely happy with them. I misread the instructions and mixed up a few of the steps (duh, first rule of baking) and they were a little grainier than I would have liked them to be. So last week, because the hubby was craving cookies, I decided to try again, following the steps correctly, and making one teeny weeny little addition to them. The original recipe didn't call for almond extract. But lately, I've been craving almond... so I snuck some in! And they were AMAZING! If you aren't a huge fan of almond, cut it out, no problem. The taste is not prominent, but it's definitely there. :) I hope you and yours enjoy them as much as we did!
Another tip - make the dough and freeze it for later use. I tossed about half the dough in a ziploc and used it a couple days later. All you have to do it let it thaw, scoop it out, and bake it! Cookies in a jiffy!!!!
Ginormous Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I found some for Ghirardelli that are toooooo diiiieeeee for!)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla, and almond until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop out approximately 2 tbsp of dough and place on cookie sheet, leaving room between each scoop. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cookies are light golden brown. The outer edges should harden, while the centers should be soft and puffy. (Approximately 12-15 minutes)
Cool the cookies on the sheets until you can lift them without breaking. Enjoy!!!
Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats
