Chocolate Chip Cookies

Craved something sweet all day while at work, to munch on, and couldn't find a place close to the office that sold churros in the evening. Next best thing is chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven. I found some recipes and chose one that didn't require a trip to the grocers.

Beautiful! Auto-awesome compiled gif by Google's Photo services.

For a soft, chewy cookie, this recipe is delicious and simple.

First step - mix dry powder ingredients,

Next step, mix the sugars, eggs, and butters together. I accidentally used hot melted butter in my hasty excitement. Also used about 1 1/4 sticks of butter instead of the full two. 

First time separating a yolk from white. I used my hands to carefully hold onto the yolk lightly while the whites dripped through.

Stirred that mixture into a beautiful brown texture. Then combined with the powders and mix some more. It takes a bit of strength to keep kneading it but it is good exercise. The dough smells great. The color of the dough looks rich and beautiful. 

Next I make little small ping pong shaped balls. Is this 3 tablespoons? I have no idea.

Bake for 10-12 mins. Let it cool a bit. Then place them on a pretty plate and let it cool down some more. 

Now for some glamour tips. 

1 - use dark sugar for a darker tone cookie. It brings out more contrast when placed on a white plate. 

2. Use mini chocolate chips instead of the regular sized ones to make your cookies seem more refined. You can play around with mini m&ms for color, or light brown sugar with white chocolate, and more.

3. Wait for the cookies to harden enough before transferring them off the cookie sheet. Else you risk breaking them and ruining the photo opp.

Chocolate chip cookies from scratch #cookies #chocolate #dessert #yum #nom #sweet #baking #homemade #foodstagram #food

A photo posted by Dr. Kat (@katsupnfries) on Nov 11, 2014 at 7:29pm PST

I've a preference for using my LED daylight desk lamp to take photos, but for the instagram photo, I used a 23w CFL bulb in a floor lamp. It wasn't quite bright enough so the photo was post processed to increase exposure and brightness. I basically worked to make the white plate look white (for white balance) and keep the yellow part a bright yellow.

The placemat is from Target ($1.99), which I use on my white computer desk to make cleaning easier. Here's a description of it from another blogger http://diaperedknights.com/decking-the-fridge-with-diy-fridge-liners/

The plate is from CB2, from their Cuatro line.