It's one option...

"If a baker, at home or in commerce, cannot make better pastry than Maury's, he or she should simply follow Maury's recipe or throw in the towel and find other work. As a leftover sixties liberal, I believe that the long arm and beady eyes of the government have no place in our bedrooms, our kitchens, or the backseats of our parked cars. But I also feel that the immediate appointment of a Special Pastry Prosecutor would do much more good than harm. We know the free market has totally failed when 89 percent of all the tart pastry, chocolate-chip cookies, and tuiles in America are far less delicious than they would be if bakers simply followed a few readily available recipes. What we need is a system of graduated fines and perhaps short jail sentences to discourage the production of totally depressing baked goods. Maybe a period of unpleasant and tedious community service could be substituted for jail time. Of course, the government would first have to post the ideal recipes and give everybody a week to learn them. Starting now."

--Jeffrey Steingarten, It Must Have Been Something I Ate

Loved loved loved this food-obsessed collection of essays. What I would give to travel to Paris to judge the best baguettes in the city, or fill my kitchen with espresso machines or tarts to decide which is the best one...

milk chocolate cookies

When was the last time you had an amazingly delicious cookie? A cookie so good you actually legitimately consider eating each and every one? A cookie that is absolutely perfect in all its forms?* A cookie that is actually something to write home about? **

Perhaps you should have a look at these....aren't they beautiful?
If you haven't had these cookies, then your answer must be a very, very long time and thus you should probably go make these stat. But before you start to follow the recipe ever so diligently, there is something you should consider...

Adding cinnamon.

I know, I'm a cinnamon monster. I'm seriously obsessed. And, ok, I'm kind of obsessed with a lot of things, but I guess that's just kind of how I am. When I love something, I love it OH MY GOSH SO MUCH. Anyway. I spent 5 weeks worth of breakfasts in India jonesin' for cinnamon (and in the land of spices, you'd think this would be easier than it was. I never got my cinnamon...I think most people were confused and could not understand why on earth I would want to put it on my toast...and corn flakes...and everything else I ate.)

I've been adding a pinch of cinnamon to probably most every dessert I make. Mostly because it makes me feel like I'm being wild and crazy and not just following a recipe...that makes sense, right? Right. It usually goes unnoticed, especially in things like brownies, but in these cookies it added such an interesting element. It added this other element and intensified the chocolate flavor. So amazing. Sometimes I think chocolate and cinnamon are kind of weird together. But sometimes, they are oh so right.

Another thing I did, which was not really on purpose, but more from my compulsive stirring habit, was to give the egg whites and the sugar a good beating (hah). I kept whisking until they were a little bit light, and it gave the cookies this really awesome crispy-chewy texture. Kind of like a cross between a meringue and the best chocolate chip cookie you've ever had.

Thanks Martha, for winning my heart once again with another amazing cookie. ***


Milk Chocolate Cookies
from Martha Stewart's Cookies

1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 pound milk chocolate, 4 oz coarsely chopped and 4 oz cut into 1/4 in chunks
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Melt 4 oz coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; let cool.
Whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Gradually add in flour mixture and fold in chocolate chunks.
Scoop dough onto baking sheets and bake until cookies are flat and the surface is cracked, about 15 minutes.



*These forms being: cookie dough, hot out of the oven, cooled, and a week old (I had to hide some so they would last that long), of course.
**Someone please tell me I'm not the only one that uses that phrase. I love it so much.
***Let's be honest, it's not that hard to win my heart. I profess my love for cookies and Martha Stewart on practically a daily basis.