Dear Megan,

Thank you for being obsessed with chocolate chip cookies with me. They’re the one thing in this world that can bring a smile to so many people. The soft chewy center and lightly crisped edges are just a delight of texture.

I write this as you’re a cookie master. I still remember the days at Sauble Beach where I first got to try your caramel cookies and peanut butter cookies. I think of them fondly and wonder when you’ll make them again. I was so naive back then, thinking I could just ask for your family’s cookie recipes. Ha! I understand now why people guard their secrets.

Which brings us to our (slight, small, tiny) obsession with Craig’s Cookies this year. I was first introduced to them when someone brought them in at work. Then they started popping up at Nordstrom on the weekend. Now, they’ve opened a second location (yet, so far downtown). I knew I had to secure you a dozen for your birthday this year. And as expected, they didn’t disappoint. Together we scoured websites and YouTube for any hints we could find. You courageously tried this recipe with high hopes, only to find out it was erroneous. The results were not the same! Then you showed me this video where we found out that each cookie dough was 45 grams. The bakery’s oven is set at 380°F for 6 minutes, but 12 minutes in his home oven.

While we are no closer to finding out how to make those cookies, I relied on a cookbook based on the restaurant we went for your birthday. Earth to Table Every Day has been my go-to cookbook this year (I’ve made the brownie, upside-down cake, Irish stew, and piri piri chicken from it) and there’s a wonderful entry for a Chipwich, a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich that I’ve made over a dozen times now without the ice cream.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from Earth to Table Every Day
Makes 24 cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup white granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lay out parchment paper on your baking pan.
2. Using a mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together on medium speed for about 5 minutes.
3. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until fully combined.
4. Then include the vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until incorporated.
5. Finally, add the flour and mix on low speed and when it’s about combined, add in the chocolate chips to the batter and mix just until you don’t see the whites of the flour anymore.
6. Using a 2-inch wide ice cream scoop, portion out the dough on the parchment paper.
7. Bake for 15 minutes and then let the cookies cool before transferring them to a wired rack.

The chocolate chip cookie dough also freezes beautifully. You can save your scoops on a small tray and put them in a zip lock bag. I would recommend baking them for 16 minutes from frozen.

I also discovered that if you bake the cookies as is from scooping, they come out with more jagged peaks and cracks. But, if you take the time to roll the cookies between your palms so it’s all smoothed out, they come out like soft rolling hills. This is all just about how they look of course and doesn’t affect the taste!

Then, in December I bravely joined my company’s Makers Market to sell my version of chocolate chip cookies with candy bars. You get slightly more cookie since they’re all over 45 grams of dough, but they’re not as soft and chewy as Craig’s. I spent all afternoon and evening baking the night before, I might have finished 70 cookies by 8:30 pm? I actually only had 69 cookies in the end because I dropped a Twix one on my kitchen counter and had to eat that one myself.

They were well received and I managed to sell out of cookies, but that’s probably just my colleagues being super supportive and ever so kind in my first pop-up shop. They all had the nicest things to say! Caramilk and Reese were the first cookies to go and the last ones were Mr. Big and Wunderbar. My personal favourite is the Rice Krispies because the marshmallows turn golden after being baked for that extra nice flavour.

I hope that together, we’ll come up with an unstoppable chocolate chip cookie recipe in the new year!

Sincerely,
Syl