Sometimes, you just need a cookie. This week was one of those weeks.
On Thursday, I went out of town for a concert and to visit some members of my family. When I came back into town, I found my husband feverish and coughing like crazy. And of course, he hadn’t gone to see a doctor yet.
Moral of the story, don’t leave town for more than a day or your husband may fall apart. After a few days of nursing him back to health, he’s still having trouble sleeping through the night through all of the coughing. I really feel bad for him – it’s the kind of sickness that just exhausts you, and you can’t do much about.
While he has been recovering from whatever found its way into his lungs, I’ve been taking care of him and trying to restore order to our house, cleaning constantly to keep the sickness from setting in. I’ve scrubbed things that I had never scrubbed before, trying to keep up with the path of sneezes in our house. One day, I spent a full eight hours cleaning.
But when I finally got a chance to rest for a minute on Monday, I realized that I didn’t just want to crash on the couch for hours on end. I wanted a treat. Something easy that could make me – and my husband – have a bright spot in an otherwise phlegmy day.
That’s when I remembered this cookie recipe from a few years ago.
Now, they’re called Monster Cookies here because I don’t know what else to call them. When I was given the recipe a few years ago, it was little more than an ingredient list, a bake time and a temperature written on a scrap of paper with the name “The Cookie Recipe” across the top.
And for me and my family, that scrap of paper has truly become THE cookie recipe. When my mom and I are making cookies from scratch, we make these, throwing in any and all toppings we want into the dough.
Of course, not having the actual steps of the recipe written down means that the cookies originally came out slightly differently every time. But I’ve tried to standardize my process over the years, working the dough the same way until I’ve gotten a more consistent result.
The result is a not-to-sweet but fluffy cookie with all your favorite flavors mixed in. I’ve made this with coffee-flavored chocolate chips mixed in, just chocolate, peanut butter chips and more. But there’s something fun about the original recipe, which calls for milk chocolate, dark chocolate, caramel chips, peanut butter chips and marshmallows all crammed into one cookie.
After baking these cookies, I brought a plate to Hunter to sample. And while that man has been generally miserable for days now, I think I saw some part of him light back up at the sweet treat.
Now, some quick notes: I didn’t add the sea salt to the top of the cookies this time. Hunter’s throat was hurting, and I figured I’d avoid adding salt to the wound. But it is the PERFECT contrast to the cookie’s flavor, so I would highly recommend adding it to the top while these are fresh and hot from the oven.
Also, this recipe originally makes about three dozen cookies. I’ve halved it here, in case you don’t want to make enough to feed a small army.
But you can easily double that again and feed the troops if need be.
Otherwise, I hope you and your loved ones get to enjoy some delicious cookies this week and that you stay healthy. Though, maybe this recipe isn’t exactly the poster child for good health, what with all the butter and sugar. Oh, well. Eat up!
MONSTER COOKIES
Ingredients
1/2 cup salted butter (warmed in microwave)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (for sprinkling on top)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup caramel chips
Mini marshmallows
Directions
■ Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Microwave butter for about 30 seconds, until softened and butter starts to melt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine with egg and vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed until combined, just a minute or two.
■ In a large mixing bowl, combine white sugar, light brown sugar, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk together. Then, gradually add to wet ingredients in thirds, mixing between each addition.
■ Once wet and dry ingredients are combined, work the dough by hand to ensure everything is incorporated, but do not overwork. Once dough is sticking together, add chocolate chips, dark chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips and caramel chips, or other preferred stuffings. Work these into the dough, turning with your hands.
■ Using a cookie scoop or a large spoon, form the dough into balls. Place on a baking sheet at least two inches apart. Stick a marshmallow or two in each ball.
■ Bake for 9 1/2 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies just start to turn brown. Once the browning begins, pull the cookies out so they do not burn on the bottoms.
■ Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
