TD: Can you make me some cookies?  Only, you know, the normal ones.

Me: You mean the kind without any of those villainous pink peppercorns?

TD: Uh huh.  Yeah, those.

And so goes TD’s quarterly request for what he calls, “the normal cookies.”  The “normal cookies” is simply code for chocolate chip cookies.  Whenever I make a batch, they are quickly put into a zip lock bag and appropriated to the “man loft” where they are stored in the “man fridge” to be eaten only by TD and only in quantities of at least half a dozen (I once saw him eat an entire row of Oreos without blinking.  Dude.).

What is a man-fridge you ask?  Well.  In our house, we have not one but three refrigerators.  See, we have a typical Beach Cities straight-up-and-downer.  An expansive (ha!) 1500 square feet stretched across three floors (this doesn’t include the garage…which is yet one more floor down).  This means that our third floor “entertainment” loft and roof deck are located two whole sets of switch-back stairs from the kitchen.  Apparently the survival gene on the “Y” chromosome kicks in after a single set of stairs and when we were furnishing said loft, TD required a mini-fridge for beverages as a precautionary measure.  I guess dehydration and baseball watching are highly related covariates.  So, a top-of-the-line stainless steel mini-fridge we got.  And we keep it well stocked with beer (not because I’m religious about libation stocking but because, well, we don’t drink a ton of beer so it pretty much stays stocked on its own.  BUT it would look impressive if MTV Cribs ever decided to stop by).  And, on occasion, the man-fridge gets stocked with cookies.

Which brings me to my “normal” cookie base.  Many years ago when I was just beginning to cultivate my hostessing skills (let’s face it, I’ve always been misanthropic), I perfected my own version of a chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It’s only perfect in-so-far as it is the kind of chocolate chip cookie I like: slightly chewy and not flat.  The thing is, once you master the base, you can put just about anything in it for variety.  M&Ms, nuts, dried fruit…you get the picture.

The recipe is simple and I’ve kept the ratios easy to remember.

Two sticks of butter get creamed-to-death with equal parts white and golden brown sugar.

Then, an egg plus an egg yolk are blended in just until incorporated. This is followed by a little vanilla and then the dry ingredients.  Equal parts salt and baking soda plus enough flour to get to your desired consistency (I like my dough a little on the dry side, so usually, 2 cups plus another couple of tablespoons).

Then comes the fun.  Two cups of whatever you want to add to make your base fancy.  Here we’ve got a combo of peanut butter, white and semi-sweet chips, salted peanuts, raisins and a little dark chocolate.  Note: no peppercorns here.

Another couple of folds to incorporate and you’ve got good dough.

The size of your cookie is up to you.  I usually go somewhere between 1/8 and a 1/4 cup.  The cookies in this recipe joined next week’s post at a party so I made them extra big.

Twelve or so minutes in the oven with a rotation halfway through and you’ve got nice, normal cookies.

And yes, they would pair excellently with beer.

What?  You want to know where our third fridge is.  It’s in the garage and holds Gatorade.  Because, what garage home-gym would be complete without its own electrolyte enhanced drink cooler?

TMH’s Perfectly Normal (Chocolate Chip) Cookies

Ingredients

• 16 TBS (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temp but not melty)
• 3/4 C packed golden brown sugar
• 3/4 C granulated sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk (room temp)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 C + 2-3 TBS all purpose flour
• 2 C your favorite fillings–chocolate chips, nuts etc.

To Make

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line half-sheet pans with partchment.
• Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
• In standing mixer (or hand mixer, or by hand), cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy (2-4 minutes).
• With mixer on low, add-in eggs one-at-a-time until well combined.  Do not over beat!
• With mixer still on low, fold in flour.  Mix until just combined.
• Fold-in chips etc by hand.
• Portion-out dough to desired size on to pans.  Bake two sheets at a time for 12 minutes, rotating sheet positions halfway through.
• Store in sealed container.  They freeze excellently.