Coping With Cookies

People deal with stress in many different ways. Some run, others eat everything in sight, some eat nothing at all. People resort to yoga, pilates, or deep breathing exercises. But me on the other hand...I bake. While some go to grab their yoga mats, I go to grab my spatula. If I have had a busy day full of tests or ridiculous patients, I don't even put down my bags before I go turn on the oven to 350. There is something so relaxing, peaceful, and relieving about baking. To think that you start with just some flour and sugar and then only an hour later it turns out to be something absolutely divine. It is almost like an art. It allows me a chance to escape into my own little baking world. I get so involved in the baking process that all of my days worries disappear and I just whisk them all away. Baking is my stress relief.

There are many things I love to bake, but my go to recipe has always been my chocolate chip cookies. They are little golden circles of delicious joy. They are nothing too terribly special, but my family loves them. It could be the enormous amount of chocolate chips I put in each one, or maybe it's the gooeyness of them freshly coming out of the over, but what I really think it has to do with is my secret ingredient. Toffee bits. (well I guess it's not a secret anymore!) In my opinion, toffee bits can turn a normal bland cookie into a fabulous mouth watering delectable cookie. It is what adds the "oohs and ahhs" after each bite, and what I really love is that no one ever knows exactly what that extra kick is. I always get really dramatic comments like, "Lindsey what is in these cookies?!" They can't quite figure it out, but they know there is something extra that they wouldn't normally expect in a chocolate chip cookie. It's such a mystery, and I love it! Try it for yourself. You won't regret it!

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 sticks of unsalted butter

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 c. (1 bag) semi sweet choc. chips

1 c. toffee bits

Add flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and whisk or fork until well blended. In a seperate bowl add softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Cream together and then mix, adding eggs one at a time. When all liquid ingredients start to look gooey, add in 1 cup of flour mixture at a time. Continue adding flour mixture into liquid mixture until all mixed together. Add in chocolate chips and toffee bits. Scoop tablespoon sized rounds onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 (not 350 or they will be flat!). Bake for approximately 7 minutes or until golden brown. For thicker cookies, add an extra 1/4 cup all purpose flour.