Just Like the Cool Kids

by littlesarahbigworld

My new thing is reading baking/cooking blogs and drooling over the pictures/recipes. There’s this one, simply breakfast, which is basically just food porn, and I’m way addicted. It’s my new thing.

Anyways, I want to play with the big kids, and sometimes I bake things. So now my even newer thing is that I’m going to post about what I bake/eat.

Speaking of hanging with the cool kids…I have friends! Well, I have a Jorge friend, and he has roommates, and sometimes we cenar (eat dinner) together. Like this:

¡Viva Plaza de Castilla!

Jorge, Andoni, Anna, Guillermo and Lara

Lara made appetizers:

Anna made the dinner:

And I BLEW THEIR MINDS with chocolate chip cookies:

Really, though, Spaniards aren’t really a baking people. So stuff that to me is very simple and common-place (like cookies and pancakes) is a big, fancy deal for them, and it leads to hilarious/frustrating Q & A sessions. Like this:

Q: Is it part of the recipe to make the cookies round? I’ve only ever seen them flat.

A: No, no–they flatten out in the oven.

Q: Don’t we have to wait for them to cool all the way before they eat them?

A: What? No, we…you’re supposed to eat them while they’re still warm. With a glass of milk, traditionally.

Q: Ew, why are you eating the dough? Don’t you want to wait until after it’s baked?

A: HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND EATING THE DOUGH? (Then I cry a little).

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Yield: about 45 cookies
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
● 2 cups all purpose flour
● 1 tsp. salt
● 3/4 tsp. baking soda
● 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp
● 1 cup sugar
● 2/3 cup light brown sugar
● 2 large eggs
● 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate (a big chocolate bar, cut into 1/4 inch chunks)
● 1 cup ground almonds

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 375 degrees. Lightly coat the bottom of a baking sheet with vegetable oil.

2. Whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda together.

3. Mash the butter with a fork until smooth. Add the sugars and mix with a wooden spoon (or whatever) until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring for a minute or so after each egg goes in. Then add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing in between but don’t over-mix. Then stir in the ground-up almonds and then the chocolate. Then put the dough in the fridge for about a half hour, but first eat as much as you feel like.

4. Using a big spoon and/or your hands, make tablespoon-sized balls and arrange them on the baking sheet, with about 2 inches in between (I also like to stagger the rows).

5. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 10 minutes, or until they brown on the edges and golden in the center. COOKIES WILL ALWAYS LOOK A LITTLE BIT LESS-DONE THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE. So err on the side of caution. Let cookies cool before you eat them. Or not.