Tuesdays with Dorie - Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I will admit up front that I am a Toll House cookie baker. Whenever I make chocolate chip cookies, I use the Toll House recipe and chips. That's what my hubby likes and I try very hard to make things he likes. Since I don't usually eat the cookies, what hubby wants is what hubby gets. Sometimes I even bake the pre-made cookies for him. Again, that's what he likes. He asks me to buy some of those bake and eat cookies. Poor man. :)

So, I was really excited to try Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. Thought maybe I could expose my hubby to some "real" cookies. Show him how the rest of the world lives, so to speak. I had high hopes about using the recipe that Kait of Kait's Plate chose for this week's TWD. Stop by her blog to pick up the recipe and take a look around. Kait takes lots of great photos of all the things she bakes each week.

Back to my review. I gathered all my baking supplies to make these cookies. Butter,eggs, flour, vanilla,  sugars, I even dug out the good chocolate, 72% cocoa dark chocolate. 2 bars that I chopped into big chunks and added to the batter. I also added some chopped pecans. Scooped out balls of the dough onto my cookie sheets and popped one into the oven, then sat back waiting for deliciousness.

Well, what came out of the oven the first time were flat, dark, almost burnt cookies. Disappointed I turned down the oven temperature a few degrees and baked the cookies a minute or two less. Second batch, still flat, but not quite as dark. Third batch baked a few minutes less, and, still flat. I baked 6 trays I think and every batch was flat, flat, flat! I thought the cookies tasted great! The dark chocolate was perfect with the sweetness of the dough. The pecans added nice texture and nuttiness. The cookies were crisp when you first bit them and then chewy as you, well, chewed them. But, they looked terrible. Not sure what I did wrong. I don't usually end up with flat cookies. My hubby? Took one look and asked "What are those supposed to be?" I got him to try one, and that was the only one he ate. "Don't do a thing for me", is what he said as he left the kitchen, leaving a half eaten cookie behind.  So, while I liked the flavor, the hubby didn't. And, since it's for him I usually bake cookies, I guess I will stick to the recipe on the yellow bag of chocolate chips. Maybe if I could figure out what I did wrong and get them to bake up fluffy (???) he might reconsider. But, I guess I will just stick to his favorite and pass on these.

But, don't let my disappointment with these cookies sway you. Go to TWD and see what all the other bakers thought. I saw some beautiful cookies using the same recipe.


Before I leave, I wanted to acknowledge today's date and its significance for me. I am writing this because it's been on my mind all day, and for me, it's best if I put what's in my heart and mind on paper, so I can move on, let it go. The following is not funny or upbeat and I only tell you, my readers, so that you may choose to skip this part if you'd like.

On this date, 5 years ago, my dearest friend and soul mate (as we used to call each other) passed away from cancer. Linda was 44 years old when she died. We had been friends for 27 years. We met when I was a waitress in a little diner next door to where she worked. She would come in for breakfast (bacon and toast) each morning and over time we became friends. It was an unlikely friendship. I was 5 years older, married with a child. She was a young, career minded single woman. I was a tomboy and she was a "girly" girl. When we would go out together, I would be ready in minutes and would stand watching as Linda primped and fluffed and readied herself for going out. It was something we laughed about often. Our friendship survived not only time, but distance when my husband at the time took a job that moved us from upstate NY to Richmond, VA. Linda and I would talk on the phone for hours at a time. At least once a year I would travel to Rochester and spend a week with her. We would sit up till the wee hours of the morning, drinking coffee and talking about anything and everything. We wrote long letters (pages and pages!) to each other on a weekly basis. I still have boxes of letters she wrote to me over the years. We had no secrets from each other and didn't cut the other one any slack or pull punches when necessary. When Linda had her first, of many surgeries to try and stop the cancer, I was always there in the waiting room. She fought a hard battle for 2 years. When her doctor sent her home in September of 2004 and told her there was nothing else to do, she still didn't give up. I drove up to Rochester every weekend to be by her side, leaving on Fridays and returning home on Mondays. When it started to snow and the roads became treacherous, her husband flew me to Rochester every weekend so I could be with her. Just like in the old days, we would stay up all night talking. We talked about death and dying. We talked about missed opportunities. We talked about all the fun we used to have. We talked about making the most of what you are given. Even though we both knew she was dying, we still found time to laugh together.  I took care of her, cooked for her, bathed her, helped her in anyway I could.  I left Linda on Monday the 14th of February. Kissed her good-bye and told her I would be back on Friday, like I had been doing every weekend for the previous 4 1/2 months. Her husband called me Tuesday evening and said to come back to Rochester. I left on a plane at 6AM Wednesday morning. While on a layover in DC, at 7:30AM,  I got the call from her husband that she had passed away. There has been a hole in my heart since then. I still think of her, every day, even after 5 years. I miss you Linda...