I noticed that most of my blog posts are about sweets. Which is funny because I don’t consider myself inclined to sweet treats more than I do for savory food. Ok, maybe lately I’ve been a little addicted to sugar and I know why (hello adult life). But in general I prefer savory and that’s why I chose to become a chef and not a pastry chef.
For the last two months I’ve been craving cookies all the time. Not chocolate, not even Nutella. Cookies. Also not the healthy type of cookies, chocolate chip ones. I’ve tried many of them: Whole Foods brand, Amazon Fresh brand, Pepperidge Farm’ Sausalito is one of my favorites but I try to avoid ultra-processed foods (even though my all time favorite is Annie’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites and Trader Joe’s Way More Chocolate Chips).
I saved half the dough to bake another time. Best. Decision. Ever.
Then I saw Emily Schuman posting on Instagram a recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies and this one had chocolate chip. My heart was racing. Emily always seems to find the best recipes and that’s one of the reasons why she’s the only influencer I follow. She already convinced me to buy a new deodorant and kind often she encourages me to get up and move on (like go on a walk or even tidy up the house).
Turns out the recipe is from another influencer that I follow and admire: Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen. Deb is the “mother who loves to cook” that I never had. Growing up my mom used to make amazing food, I really loved everything she did but she never liked the art, she used to say that it wasn’t for her. So my mom never invested time in teaching me how to cook and to learn new recipes, she stuck with the basics she knew: rice, beans, protein and very simple salads (usually lettuce, tomato, onions and carrots).
Going back to my cookie addiction, as you know by now I’m not very into pastry as an art for myself. I admire it so so much but having to follow the exact rules turns me off a little bit. But since I started working in a professional kitchen I noticed that uhmmm yes, I have to follow recipes. In the restaurant I measure everything. Restaurants needs to be consistent and there’s always someone different making the dish so we have to follow a guideline for the flavor. And now I’m becoming a little more comfortable with baking since following directions became part of my routine.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies - influenced by an influencer that got the recipe from another influencer that got the inspiration from a bakery that used to be a hit a few years ago.
Now on my days off I anticipate baking. It has become a project for me. And I noticed that I’m good at it (I just follow instructions duuuh). At this moment instead of buying cookies I’m making them. I don’t have a stand mixer at the moment (RIP my beautiful red Kitchen Aid that my friend found on her building trash) or a food processor (this one broke too). But nothing has stopped me so far (just some laziness to be honest). Thanks to this currently pandemic (coronavirus) I’m looking forward to more baking into my life. And home baked cookies.