The Chocolate Chip Cookie Mission

I've mentioned several times before, that I've never been much of a baker.  I enjoy the type of cooking that allows improvisation and creativity.  Baking is not that!  If you want your baked items to turn out right, you have to go precisely by the recipe and instructions.  I have a friend who is an excellent baker.  She gave me several baking tips and they are IN THIS BLOG POST. 

Lately, I've been on a mission to bake the perfect, most beautiful chocolate chip cookies.  Past attempts have resulted in flat, glob-like objects that are just dried out and crumbly.  Some people may like them that way...and that's fine!  I mean no respect!  You know what they say about different strokes...their for different folks.

Here is one of those past attempts.  Though this is a tad bit better than other disasters, it's still not quite what I was hoping for.  My husband compared them to the bottoms of one of his patients' feet...because of the dry flakiness.  Not very appetizing, I have to say!

There is a place called Marks&Spencer.  It is a department store, but also has a gourmet food section. There are none of these stores in the U.S....at least that I know of.  I've been to the ones in London and Dublin.  It's really a dreamy place!  If you are fortunate enough to be in one of these cities, and you want to have a lovely picnic, this is where you might shop for treats.  To me, M&S has a smell.  That smell is of Shortbread and Chocolate together.  It could be because the bakery offers chocolate chip shortbread.  Don't we love Pinterest?  In the interest of my Mission, and because of my love for M&S, I decided to look up a recipe for chocolate chip shortbread cookies.

As it turns out, this is the recipe for me!

These happen to be the most beautiful, and best tasting, chocolate chip cookies I've made to date.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

It's really interesting to me that this recipe does not call for eggs.  Hm.  I'm thinking, dough eating!

A little tip from a friend who is a CCC expert:  She says not to melt the butter.  Just let it get to room temperature.  That's an important tip.  Just watch out for flying sugar/butter bullets as you blend the two together.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Mission is an ongoing effort.  I'm a mom and I believe that this is a required skill for the job!  Let's consider it tasty, on-the-job training.  As I try other recipes, I will share them...if they are successful of course!  I promise to never serve up a recipe that is a total flop.  Thanks for reading about my Mission.  Love!