So I had a long post in mind for this week, based on a fascinating Fresh Air interview with Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide. He talks about the fact that it’s easy to overwhelm the prefrontal cortex of our brains by hyper-multi-tasking, and the brain must compensate by abandoning some of its other important functions, like managing impulse control. It was all going to relate to how busy our lives become, especially as parents, and how I now understand why some of us must eat chocolate chip cookies every night after the kids go to bed. Alas, that post had to be abandoned.
This afternoon I got the news that our house — which we’re trying to sell and which was under contract — is now going back on the market. Long story short, the inspection did not go well. Mold. Such a beautiful thing for Roquefort or Gorgonzola. Not so good for a crawl space. Sigh.
But I made these chocolate chip cookies and they were good. Very good. I’m a NY Times chocolate chip cookie recipe devotee, but this recipe has just slotted itself into second place. The cookies are buttery, chewy, a tiny bit crispy on the outside, and worthy of exceptionally-good chocolate chips (like Valrhona feves, my personal favorite). The batter comes together very quickly, which is a good thing, especially when the prefrontal cortex loses its way.
Thanks to Kait of Kait’s Plate for choosing this week’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. You can find the recipe on her site or on page 68 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Oh dear. We’ve spent many late evenings worrying about our own house over cookies and tea. Best of luck!
Boo on mold. So sorry to hear that – and I think chocolate chip cookies are an excellent coping mechanism (along with a glass of wine or six).
I agree with michaela… wine and CCC are essential to cope! I’m a NYT/Jacques Torres CCC devotee, so will be curious to see how these compare.
Good luck with everything!
Those are some good-looking cookies! Hope they took your mind off the mold, at least for a while. I can’t stop thinking about all the cookies I gave away. Regretting it now…
Even just the short summary of your abandoned post captured the true cause of late night chocolate chip cookie eating better than anything I’ve ever seen. But I don’t think I’d be able to resist your cookies even if I hadn’t blown my prefrontal cortex years ago!
Dang mold…sorry to hear that. On the sweeter side..your cookies look so good! I loved them!
Hope you can bake with me next week!
Mold is the worst!!! But chocolate chip cookies can help ease stress. I had made these before so I made four different recipes and did a taste off. It was a lot of fun. Valrhona feves are my favorite for CCC!
Man, sorry to hear about the mold problem. Hopefully you can take care of it soon and get the house back on the market. Your cookies look wonderful! Mine were so flat. 😦
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