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In the kitchen with Valentine’s treats
updated: Feb 14, 2010, 7:30 AM
By Leah Etling
It's kind of a bummer that Valentine's Day is a made-up consumer holiday, designed to make us buy stuff, because I really like the concept.
What's wrong with a day to tell people you love them (and eat chocolate)? Sure, we should all do more of that everyday (especially on the Edhat comments board), but if one day is all that's offered, I'll take it.
My mom lent me a book called, "Holiday Hearts," which has a lot of Martha Stewart-esque ideas for things you can cook or make around February 14. But none of the recipes sounded too exciting to me. What I liked was the pretty pictures in which all the food was heart-shaped.
So, I decided to take the heart-shaped sentiment, and make everyone's favorite cookies, chocolate chip. We've all got a great chocolate chip cookie recipe, right? So here's a great chance to share the love and put your recipe up on the comments board.
Here's mine:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup softened butter or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup margarine
OR
½ cup butter and ½ cup shortening (if you want a softer cookie). I've found most people prefer the half-and-half option.
½ cup granulated sugar
1-cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1-teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 package chocolate chips
If you're using a Kitchen Aid or other industrial-strength mixer, quite frankly I just throw all the ingredients in at the same time and mix away. It doesn't affect the quality of the cookies at all. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes per sheet. I pull them out a minute early because I don't like crispy cookies.
It was hard to get the cookies to be heart shaped! (And impossible to get them uniformly sized.) Here's a picture of the first batch pre-bake:
And the after shot:
If you're looking for a great baked treat to pick up around town for your sweetie (or your sweet tooth), I can't say enough about the chocolate croissants at Renaud's (in Loreto Plaza next to Harrys, and also in Arlington Plaza, although the chocolate ones are usually gone pretty fast at Arlington on the weekends). My weekly reward for a really long run (10 miles or more) is one of these delicious pastries, so I've got their supply patterns down to a science.
They are flaky, the chocolate is moist, they are made by a real Frenchman…they will make you feel like you are in Paris! Which is a pretty romantic feeling. Happy Valentine's Day!
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