Do you have those days when you could just use a cookie and a glass of milk? When being six sounds just about as good as winning the lottery? Nothing has to be terribly wrong or terribly right. No. Just good enough to feel like having a cookie.
A warm embrace. A love note. A familiar face. A couple of cookies and a glass of milk. Same difference.
With work and life moving at a million happy miles an hour, all I wanted to do the other day was just to put my pen down and make cookies. And I did just that. The simple act of taking a tray out of the even and getting that first whiff of freshly baked cookies was just the ticket.
I think I got a bit carried away though because I ended up making 3 dozens! I have a difficult time with happy mediums apparently. I am all or nothing. Even while baking. I was on a baking high and well, procrastinating on everything else for an hour made me feel like a kid skipping homework. Everything would be ok, there were cookies.
I grabbed a few and a glass of milk and I started going through all your comments about your food styling struggles or photography in general. You’ll be happy to know that your questions on camera modes, settings, lighting, composition are covered in depth. As far as styling goes, I was thrilled to see that so many of your issues were topics I had chosen to use as examples. But I did see a couple of interesting ones which I must keep under wrap until the whole project is complete.
There has been a lot brown foods made and eaten here the last few days, as well as soups, steaks, pasta, purees, pizza, etc… Lots more than we can eat in one day just the two of us! So with a box of cookies in one hand and a container of chili in the other, I knocked on the neighbors' doors ever so gently and left them at the door. They just had a baby you see. I bet everyone was happily getting some shut eye for a while.
It won’t make everything get better but I figured that if a couple of cookies and a glass of milk made me alright with the world well, maybe the same could happen for them. On a side note, I still have to make the old pup stop howling everytime he hears the baby cries. It’s not helping, ehehe!
One more thing before I end this post. Like everyone else, we are glued to the news regarding the events in Egypt and as someone with friends deeply tied in with the country, I just want to tell all you who are affected by these events that we are keeping you close to our hearts.
Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted from David Leite of Leite Culinaria.
Notes: I used half coconut oil and half butter for the fat in these cookies. If you do the same, make sure the coconut oil is soft still but not liquid. Coconut butter would work too. You can of course use the same amount in butter which would bring the butter amount to a total of 10 tablespoons.
I used ground flax seeds soaked in a little water to act as a binding agent to mimic the gluten or xanthan gum (I was out of it).
B. finds that flaxseed has a taste so I add just a pinch of cocoa powder to the batter to tone down the flax seed taste.
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup corn starch (you can sub tapioca starch)
1/2 cup potato starch
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 tablespoons coconut oil (centrifuged, extra virgin)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground flaxseed soaked in 1/2 tablespoon water for 10 minutes
a pinch cocoa powder
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
In a large bowl, whisk together each of the flours and "starches" along with the baking soda and baking powder.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the sugars on medium speed for a couple of minutes, then mix for 1 minute more. Reduce the speed to slow and ddd the flaxseed and cocoa powder, the egg, beating well and scraping the sides of your mixer bowl if necessary. Add the vanilla extract and beat 30 seconds longer.
Add the flour mixture into the batter, mixing just until the dry ingredients are coming together. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly to incorporate.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F, position a rack in the middle of the oven and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.
Scoop your preferred size of dough balls onto your baking sheet, 2 inches apart from each other.
Bake the cookies about 12-15 minutes, depending on the size or until golden brown. Let them cool 10 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to cooling racks.