I have a theory about figuring out what I want in life. There have been moments lately when I’ve thrown up my hands and declared to anyone who will listen that I just don’t know what I want to do. But, then it hit me. If I’m willing to stay up all night and do it. If I can’t think of anything else.
If I wake up excited. If the ideas are sometimes (not always) effortless. If it doesn’t seem, not at all, like work. Then I probably found it. And not at all surprising, it was there all along, patiently waiting for me to get on board.
Writing, baking, blogging, photographing, designing, creating, teaching and coming up with content is what I want to do. Lately it’s consuming my every waking minute. It’s making my life better and my days a little richer. I’ve dabbled before, afraid to get too deep, afraid I wasn’t good enough. And then I decided that I was good enough and worth the effort to learn and get better. Worth the effort to push harder. And it’s weird when something as simple as a chocolate chip cookie can inspire and ignite the spark. It’s there, it was just a little buried, becoming too jaded and cynical, but I never lost it. The missing link is that before I wasn’t doing it for myself and on my own terms.
Sometimes learning can be frustrating, especially when the process is public. And now I realize that I was never really trying. I don’t know what opportunities any of this will bring, if any at all, but I’m trusting myself and the process enough to do it better than I ever have.
These cookies take no time at all to put together. They fluff up a little, stay chewy and silky in the middle, and then fall down to create picturesque hills and valleys. The toffee is essential and next time, I will use more toffee and less chocolate. And because I know there will be a next time, I will also add toasted pecans instead of walnuts.
Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from the Ghiardelli Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe)
Ingredients:
2.25 C. unbleached flour, 1 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 2 sticks softened butter, 1/4 C. half and half (omit if using two eggs instead of one jumbo egg) .75 C. sugar, .75 C. brown sugar, 2 t. vanilla extract, 1 (jumbo egg, or two large eggs), 2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 C. toffee bits, 1 C. walnuts or pecans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a stand mixer or by hand beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add vanilla, egg (s), and half and half until incorporated.
Gradually add dry ingredients into the creamy mixture. Add chocolate chips, toffee bits and walnuts. Drop by tablespoons onto parchment paper or a non-stick oven mat. Bake for 9-11 minutes.
I found that add the same amount of chopped dates for butter made cookies amazing as well as made them better for u.