Remember when I was harping on eating healthy and putting nutritious things in my body during my pregnancy? Well, those kinds of dishes aren’t as fun to blog about. Maybe on a slow week I’ll share with you a recipe for a kale salad or something.

If you are pregnant, you need no excuse to occasionally indulge in these morsels of joy or to endear yourself to all possible crib-assemblers/ baby shower attendees by baking up a batch. However, if you are not pregnant but would like to pack on some pounds as if you are, join me in making some freaking awesome chocolate chip cookies!

I have a preference for chewy, thick cookies rather than crispy ones. These definitely fall into the sumptuous, chewy category. I had tried out several recipes for cookies that were allegedly going to come out bakery-style, but each time they failed to deliver the goods. However, this recipe, which comes from The New Best Recipe (the best all-around cookbook that I know) was an epic win. Do yourself a favor and get this book if you don’t have it already. The book version of America’s Test Kitchen, it will seriously instruct you on how to make nearly every traditional and not-so-traditional recipe properly and perfectly. I’ve included a few of my own notes. So here they are:

THICK AND CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. (10 5/8 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour (love, love King Arthur)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm

1 cup packed (7 oz.) light or dark brown sugar (This is what makes them awesome and chewy.)

1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz.) granulated sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 to 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray. (I use parchment. Since the oven won’t get extremely hot for this recipe, you will be able to reuse the paper for the next time you make cookies if you so choose.)

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. (Remember, you’ve already melted the butter!) Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. (I add the flour mixture in about 1/4 of a cup at a time.) Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into two equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at the base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. (I’ve found these instructions make the cookies look great but don’t have a huge effect on their texture or baking time. I usually opt for no bells and whistles and just roll 1/4 cup dough into a ball and place it on the sheet.) 

Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown, the outer edges start to harden, and the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the sheets with a wide metal spatula.

Thanks to Evelyn from Momsicle for the recipe for Lactation Bars! They look really yummy and I can’t wait to make them and tell you how they turn out.