Chocolate Chip Cookies & Daydreams

by Amy

From the pudding chocolate chip recipe

 “I tell you, I’m going to do it,” Myrna was saying, sipping her hot chocolate.“No you’re not,” laughed Clara. “Every winter you say you will and you never do. Besides, it’s too late now.”“Have you seen the last-minute deals? Look.” Myrna handed her friend the Travel section from the weekend Montreal Gazette, pointing to a box.”
[…]“Every Saturday they had the same conversation. Comparing travel deals to beaches, choosing Caribbean cruises, debating the Bahamas versus Barbados, San Miguel de Allende versus Cabo San Lucas. Exotic locales far from the falling snow, the endless snow. Deep and crisp and even.And yet, they never went, no matter how tempting the deals. And Gabri knew why. Myrna, Clara, Peter knew why. And it wasn’t Ruth’s theory.“You’re all too fucking lazy to move.” Well, not entirely. Gabri sipped his café au lait and looked into the leaping flames, listening to the familiar babble of familiar voices. He looked across the bistro with its original beams, wide plank floor, mullioned windows, its mismatched, comfortable antique furniture. And the quiet, gentle village beyond.
No place could ever be warmer than Three Pines.”

Café au lait from my favorite café... They have yummy bread and awful cookies!

Don’t you just love their “what if” conversations? 

I had a daydream myself today. I really, really need some silence right now. Between incessant patient phone calls, a number of minor motherhood crisis (things like never-ending  conversations on how to make mods on Minecraft, whether or not the latest Ironman suit is the best, why “I don’t know” isn’t an appropriate answer when a homework question says, “Justify your answer”, etc), and a neighbor who hasn’t been very respectful in the volume he plays his music, I really needed some silence for a little while. Or at least a no-interruptions-for-a-few-hours policy.

I was daydreaming of spending a week all by my lonesome in a little cottage. In my daydream the mobile phone didn’t work. All I had to do was lounge, eat, drink, and read. In my daydream I didn’t actually have to talk to anyone. Unless I wanted to. No one would need me. For anything.

It sounds perfect for a few minutes. But then I think that no place could be better than home. And by home I don’t mean a city or a state or even a country. I mean people. Two in particular. Besides, it’s good to feel needed, appreciated, useful, and loved.

Still… I won’t say I’d never go. I will. Someday. At least for a few days.

Ingredients for the oatmeal chocolate chip

“Peter, while an artist himself, wasn’t great at the “what if” conversations. He took them too literally and found himself stressed when Clara pointed out that for only fifteen thousand dollars they could upgrade to a Princess Suite on the Queen Mary 2. It was his cardio exercise for the day.”

What are you like? I’m definitely on the “what if” team. I love "what if" conversations. I don’t mind if they never come true. I think part of the fun is planning for events and daydreams that you don’t really intend to pursue.

What’s your fantasy vacation?

I always think it's funny (to me) that while the Three Pines characters are dreaming of warm places and sunny skies, I'm frequently daydreaming of nice chilly mountain scenery. Three Pines actually would be on my list of top ten dream destinations. There are no beaches on my list.

“Gabri looked down at the coffee table, with their drinks and a plate of chocolate chip cookies and the thick Diane de Poitiers writing paper with its partly finished message. The same one he wrote every day and mailed, along with a licorice pipe.”

I don’t usually make “regular” chocolate chip cookies. I usually make pumpkin chocolate chip or oatmeal chocolate chip. Those are my favorites. Since I assumed they might not qualify as the “right” cookies and I wanted to make up for my misread scene (this post: Hanna Parra's Cookies), I decided to go on a quest for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I tried three different recipes and ended up making a batch of the oatmeal because I consider them to be better than the others. Sigh. Husband and son don’t agree.

Here’s a short comparison:

Recipe 1 – recommended by a friend 

Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

Link: Tender Crumb Recipe

Pros: Husband and son loved them.

Cons: I thought these cookies were way too sweet. If I ever make them again (doubtful), I’d only use 1/3 of the sugar in the original recipe. The other issue I had is that I can only get all purpose flour here. I’m not sure if that was the reason, but I found they kind of spread out and “plopped” flat as soon as they came out of the oven.

Recipe 2 – my sister’s favorite and the one I usually make when I don't make oatmeal or pumpkin ones.

Link: Nestle Toll House Recipe

These are the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pros: Husband and son love them. I like them, too. They’re chewy enough for me. And, they always give me a giggle because of the episode Monica and the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookies (click for the link). I don't make the original recipe because I only use the brown sugar. That way it's 1/2 the amount of sugar in the original recipe. I used both milk (nod to husband) and semi-sweet (son & I prefer those) chips. I also added raw almonds.

Cons: Can’t think of any aside from the fact that they have no oats or pumpkin in them. So these are probably the best ones to me.

Recipe 3 – Chewy Pudding Chocolate Chips

Link: Pudding Chocolate Chips

These are the pudding ones

Pros: It’s true that the cookies had the perfect consistency. They looked great and they were moist and chewy. Son and husband absolutely LOVED this recipe.

Cons: I thought it had a bit of aftertaste. Son and husband didn’t think it was noticeable, but I didn’t like the pudding taste.

Recipe 4 – Oatmeal!

Just mix together: 2 cups of oatmeal, 1 cup of sugar (I use brown), 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 100g of margarine or butter or half of each, 2 eggs, and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then add 1 cup of chocolate chips. I usually add cinnamon and ginger just because I love the smell and taste. I sometimes add nuts. The ones pictured here have raw sliced almonds in them.

Pros: They’re perfect. My son thinks they're great - except when I add mint chocolate or cloves. My husband won’t touch them.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Cons: I gain about 10 pounds every time I make them.

What’s your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Or is there another cookie you prefer? I might try making another batch of someone’s favorite recipe in a couple of weeks. We need to detox from the many cookie and brownie batches over the past 10 days, though.

There's one cookie that I usually buy at a bakery in Northern California. It has oatmeal and cacao nibs and isn't chewy, but has a nice consistency and a hint of spice. I haven't been able to replicate it, though. Maybe that should be my next quest.