I am not a big sweets person, hence most of my recipes are savory, but I do enjoy a homemade cookie every now and again, who doesn’t?  I try my best to only make cookies when there is an occasion, otherwise the plate sits there staring me in the face and begging me to unnecessarily pick and consume hundreds of buttery, sugary calories. It’s even more difficult while baking to resist licking the spoon or sampling a taste of the batter bowl.

All 10 of you followers might have noticed that I haven’t posted in a couple of months. And for the first time in my entire life, it is because I have not had much of an appetite. Can you guess why? I am pregnant! C and I are expecting a new addition to our little family this March so this summer I spent a good amount of time hiding out in my apartment, staving off the waves of not feeling so hot, and experiencing food aversions to almost all food groups. Needless to say, I haven’t felt like cooking. Luckily, the symptoms of my first trimester have tapered off and I’m feeling more like myself again.

I attended my Uncle’s 60th birthday party this past week and decided to contribute some cookies for the occasion. These cookies strike the mouth-watering balance of salty and sweet. I can’t say that I can take any credit for the recipe – thank you Bon Appetit for all you give us: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/salty-chocolate-chunk-cookies, however, I’ve tempered with it slightly and included my version below. Mainly, I replace the powdered sugar with a 1/4 extra cup of regular sugar and I like to mix up my chocolate – so I add a half cup of mini chocolate chips and a broken up bar of chocolate to make it chunky and refined.

One little hand-me-down that I’ve learned over the years is that cooking time is essential to the texture of your final cookie product. If you want your cookie to be soft and chewy, I recommend using a small scoop of batter for each and watching the clock carefully and possibly even experimenting a couple times with your stove as each is uniquely temperamental.  C and I moved into a new apartment in April, so for me, the middle rack in my stove bakes a soft, chewy cookie in 8 minutes flat; the bottom rack is 6 minutes (remove those cookies immediately onto a cooling rack as well so they don’t keep baking). While the cookies may not appear to be completely finished, they will continue to cook and firm up on your cooling rack. If you like a crumbly, crunchy cookie, the time will need to be a few minutes longer. If you are making large cookies, baking time increases even more.  It’s interesting that most standard sized cookie recipes call for a 10-12 minute cooking window – I’ve burnt so many batches in the past trying to adhere to those directions – don’t fall into the trap! 🙂