Nothing I make ever comes out the same way twice.  Maybe it’s because I don’t measure?

I make my brother cookies all the time, usually his favorite- chocolate chip, and he knows they will always be a bit different.  I use the same recipe, really I do.  By the way, this is the disclaimer for the recipe below.  I wrote it down out of my head.  Good luck!  Don’t be afraid to adapt. 

Maybe that’s the deep lesson from my refusal to remember what I did last time?  Nah. 

I just like having fun in the kitchen.  In college, I lived in what we affectionately called “the treehouse.”  It was a converted attic surrounded by big pines (I think it was pine).  My kitchen was so small that I could practically wash dishes, stir my veggies, and stand inside my fridge all at the same time.  I loved it.     

When it was cold, and that was most of the time for this SoCal girl, I would turn on my oven to heat the house.  Relief from finals came from creaming butter and sugar.  And then, because I blew the fuses and overheated my hand mixer so many times that it gave up, switched to mixing melted butter and sugar together. 

Luckily, my fellow students were generally appreciative of the results of my obsessive baking.  There were a few instances of roommates trying to impose a “bake and take” policy, but generally my friends showed up and ate. 

The most frequent requests were for the classics – chocolate chip and oatmeal. My chocolate chip cookie recipe came from a friend’s apartment.  Somehow I had ended up with her cookbook and the directive to “try something.”  Many experiments later, my basic recipe was born.  Ironically, I don’t really care about chocolate chip cookies.  I don’t dislike them, but I’d choose oatmeal any day.   They are, however, the most comforting to make.  Their basic cookie-ness, their fantastic scent, they’re just easy.  For a few minutes, I feel like I know what I am doing. 

Maybe, not considering how sometimes they were round and gooey and other times thin and chewy.  It doesn’t really matter.  Sure, sometimes it’s inconvenient and occasionally stressful to not be sure what will come out of the oven, but usually it’s fun.  It has a mostly positive product.   I’ve made my choice to consult recipes rather than be bound to them.  Perfection?  Consistency?  Just not going to happen, but oh well.  The beauty of making cookies is that I can always try again next time (right after the smoke alarm stops going off).   


Apt. 201 Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen Cookbook: 100+ Great Recipes with Foolproof Instructions" (Paperback) by Kevin Mills (Author), Nancy Mills (Author), Richard A.Goldberg (Illustrator)

2 sticks (1cup) butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
 1 tsp
vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour chocolate chips to taste (1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups depending on size)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 cookie trays

2. Mix melted butter with sugars. 

3. Add in vanilla and egg

4. Mix in baking powder and baking soda and salt

5. Mix in flour 1/2 cup at time

6. Mix in chocolate chips

7. Form little balls (or big ones) and place them evenly spaced on your tray.  These will spread so not so close together.

8. Bake for about 10 minutes.  You can tell if they're done by the bottoms browning.  For softer cookies, don't wait until the tops get dark brown.

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