Half Baked: Snow Day Cookies

It is absolutely no fun out there, unless you’re a kid I guess, because kids, like, don’t feel weather the way that we feel weather I AM TOTALLY CONVINCED OF THIS. Right? When you were a kid all you needed was a snowsuit and a pair of Freezy Freakies and you were all set to stay outdoors for ten or so hours. Now? The two and a half Midtown blocks between my office and the subway might as well have been a day spent in Pine Barrens chasing a drunk Russian.

Okay but now I’m safe and sound at home and oh boy am I ever bored! And lonely. Because my life is empty and fairly meaningless. So I’m baking cookies! For my imaginary family and friends.

There are all sorts of ways to make chocolate chip cookies, which is neat if you’re into things like rising power (eggs + baking soda = is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you just etc.?) and also a nice trick to know about if you prefer one style of cookie over another. This recipe yields thin cookies that are crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle, a combination that makes me want to waltz around my apartment trilling, “You can never be too thin or too chewy!”

I never said I didn’t understand why I was all alone in life.

Melt a stick of butter and then let it cool. I have no qualms about sticking the melted butter in the fridge to speed things along, and though I’m SURE there’re baking purists out there clutching at their pearls over this admission, you should feel free to do the same.

Measure 1/3 of a cup of white sugar and 1/2 a cup of brown sugar into a mixing bowl. Hum a few bars of Ebony and Ivory if you want to! Stir the melted butter in, then add a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 3 tablespoons of water.

Next stir in 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1 cup of flour. Not so hard right? And there’s only one more thing to do! Mix in 1 cup of chocolate chips (or hell, any kind of chips! Butterscotch? Toffee brickle? Can you tell I have a type?)

Bake at 350° for 14 minutes (unless your oven burns hot like mine, in which case maybe 12 minutes would do? Sorry little batch that went on the bottom rack!) Et voila! Snow day cookies.

Now I’m going to go feed my pain and maybe talk to the walls.

Jolie Kerr wants to know if anyone would like to come over?