City Chick Cooks

so i was a part of this bollywood dance competition thing a couple weeks ago, and the winner was decided by number of votes.  i asked all my friends to vote for me, promising them cookies. little did i know that so many would actually vote and hold me up to it! haha 🙂

while at home in my beloved charlotte, NC, i made these chocolate chip, peanut butter chip and toffee cookies for my CLT friends as a thank you. i’m just going to call them krishna cookies. i was using the traditional toll house cookie recipe as a base (changing some things up as always!), but i actually messed it up. but they came out SO good… so my messup worked in my favor 🙂

being scared of baking from scratch (i’m almost over my fear!), and being the nerd that i am, i spent a good amount of time researching different techniques to make sure cookies come out perfect. i think they helped 🙂 i’ll share those tips with you as well.

you can find the original recipe here. i’ll write out my adaptation at the bottom of this post. my cookies were VERY sweet. if you don’t like them so sweet, try the original recipe, it might be less sweet.

oh PS… this is my mom’s kitchen 🙂 so the lighting is better and she has cute hot pink mixing bowls. adorable!

start off with 2 sticks of butter. plan ahead and let these come to room temperature. they should be softened, but not melted. do not try to use melted butter instead! the butter should be soft enough to cream and shouldn’t crumble when you push it with your finger. it takes a while to come to room temp.

sift together 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt in a seperate bowl.

sidetrack – my mom is a preschool teacher, and that week before i went home was teacher appreciation week at her school so there were presents GALORE at home 🙂 including this…

which i had to take a pic of 🙂 and also some homemade vanilla extract! can you believe someone actually MAKES vanilla extract from scratch? props!

thank you, mom of one of my mom’s students 🙂

she also got tons more homemade goodies, spa items and treats. some of which i ate and took back to nyc with me 🙂 ahh, perks. well, mooched perks 🙂

anyways back to the cookies. after you’re sure that your butter is soft, add in the the sugars and vanilla extract and beat with a spoon until creamy. this is where i messed up. instead of using 3/4 cup brown and 3/4 cup white sugars, i used 1 cup brown and a little less than 2/3 cup white sugar. i used the 1/3 measuring cup instead of the 1/4. see? bad at baking.

i also added 1 1/4 teaspoons (instead of 1 teaspoon) of vanilla extract. just for kicks.

then add an egg, mix until incorporated, then add the other egg, and mix until incorporated.

then gradually add the flour while mixing. do not overmix.

then add 2 cups (1 bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips. any quality will do… i got harris teeter brand because it was on sale, and the cookies were still delicious. more expensive isn’t ALWAYS better 😉 i also added about 1/4 cup of peanut butter chips and about 1/2 cup toffee pieces because i had them on hand. the original recipe calls for 2 cups chocolate chips and 1 cup nuts. i say use that 1 cup of nuts as 1 cup of whatever-candy-pieces-you-have-in-the-pantry. 🙂 make those cookies YOURS!

stir up a bit, then you have your own homemade cookie dough!

yummyyy 🙂

now – cover and CHILL for 30 min – up to a day. this allows the dough to completely soak up the eggs. gives it a nice consistency 🙂 the chilling also keeps the cookies more intact while baking. i made one batch that had been sitting on the counter for 20 minutes and another that was in the fridge for 20 minutes, and the chips sank in the batch that had been sitting out. always try to keep your pans and dough chilled.

make little balls and space them out on cookie sheets (or pizza pans… whatever you can find)

1 batch at a time, pop them into a 350 degree oven for exactly 10 minutes. they will seem slightly underbaked, but after experimenting, this makes for the PERFECT consistency. to me, at least. 🙂 the original recipe asks for 375, i lowered it a bit to make them softer.

my mom thought i was absolutely nuts because i was taking so many pics from weird angles. she doesn’t understand food-blogging 🙂

krishna’s cookies

makes… a lot of cookies.

2 sticks softened (not melted) unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

a little less than 2/3 cup white sugar (minus about 1 tablespoon)

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

2 cups (1 bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup peanut butter chips (or more)

1/2 cup toffee pieces

1. set butter out to soften.
2. once butter is soft, mix in sugars and vanilla until creamy.
3. sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.
4. add eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar mixture. mix well after each addition.
5. gradually add the flour, being careful not to overmix.
6. stir in chocolate chips, PB chips and toffee chips.
7. cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
8. preheat oven to 350.
9. make small cookie balls and spread evenly on cookie sheet. you will need to make several batches.
10. bake each batch seperately for 10 minutes each. allow to cool before removing from sheets.
11. make sure that each cookie sheet is cooled completely before loading it up with another batch.