Tart cherry, butterscotch and dark chocolate chip cookies.
“Be brave.
You are never going to see the whole picture. You won’t always know how the pieces will fall together or break apart. Life doesn’t work like that. You take chances. You try your best. You follow your heart and your instincts. You give yourself a chance. You risk. You win sometimes and you lose sometimes – but either way you live. You learn. You grow. Be brave. Love, I pray that you will be brave. Bravely try. Bravely believe. Bravely fall and bravely rise again and again and again. You have to choose to believe that there is nothing and no one that can destroy you. You have to choose to believe there is no failure you cannot recover from. You have to choose confidence over cowardice. Choose faith over fear. Choose to try rather than stand still. Choose your story. Choose your dream. Choose your life. Be brave…”- @soulbraille.
My mom used to make nestle tollhouse’s chocolate chip cookies for us as kids. That was the only chocolate chip cookie I ever ate as a child. Growing up chocolate chip cookies weren’t a thing in India. You didn’t get chocolate chips in India. A friend of my dad’s in the US would send us a packet of Nestle’s chocolate chips and my mom would use the recipe on the back of the packet to bake cookies for us. My brother and I loved them. The chips would be rationed carefully so these cookies were not made that often and were always a special treat when made.
Those were the good ‘ol days.
Phone wasn’t a thing, no social media to see what other people are up to and secretly envying their “perfect” lifestyle. Internet hadn’t arrived- at least not in our parts of the world. TV was limited to a single channel, satellite TV came a little later, but that too had only a handful of shows. We went outside to play. We spoke to people to make connections. We appreciated in person when we liked something instead of hitting a like button on a photo. We cared more about ourselves and not what other people were up to. We had time to make real and not virtual relationships and work towards growing them. While I love that technology has brought us all closer, it has some how also managed to keep us apart. It’s a different world we live in than the one I grew up in. There are times I want to disconnect from it all. But somehow my job requires me to remain connected. Or so I tell myself.
I have always been a person who weighs each situation out a lot and always thinks of the worst case scenario in my head to discourage myself. It has led me to be a person who really doubts all her actions and not have confidence in what I know is right. It has led to certain situations which could have been avoided.
I am trying to change. Trying to have more conviction in myself and faith in the decisions I take. I am also trying to keep a more calm mind. I remember when I did Vipassana, it brought a change in me- a clarity that I did not have before, but I never continued meditation and for an over active mind like mine I really need to.
As I sit on my work table, sipping coffee and listening to some light music to charge me up for the day, I check my phone to see what all is lined up for today. I have to meet someone post lunch, an important call to make before that and a chocolate event to attend in the evening. But the most important thing is this reminder I had put three months back on my phone.
Three months back we had ordered Chinese and my fortune cookie said that 3 months from that date (June 9th) good things are in store for you. I decided to put mark the date to see if something does change today. And well today is the day. Let’s see what the universe has in store.
What does all this have to do with the chocolate chip cookie recipe I am sharing today. Actually nothing. This space started out as a place where I could share my thoughts and along with that a recipe I tried out. When I started the blog, nobody was reading it and I could pen my thoughts without any inhibitions. I didn’t care about SEO, so the first paragraph never contained the recipe title, and basically had me rambling about random thoughts and in the end the recipe. As a result a lot of my recipes never got noticed by google. Then I learnt a little about SEO, and thats when it all became about the recipe and my thoughts took a back seat. Today I felt like sharing my thoughts. That’s about it. Now to the recipe.
This recipe is adapted from the one on Rebecca’s blog Displaced Housewife. I saw her making them on snapchat. Then I saw Asha from Food Fashion Party talking about them on her instagram. And I knew I had to give them a try. I used Trader Joe’s chocolate covered Sea Salt butterscotch chips in these, inspired by Gaby of What’s Gaby’s Cooking who uses them in her chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t change much except that and the flours I used since I did not have white whole flour on hand.
I love a good chocolate chip cookie and love the Jacque Torres ones I have on the blog. But I love trying variations and these are really good. They might be a mouthful to say but I do love the addition of tart cherries in these cookies. The addition of chocolate covered sea salt butterscotch caramels does bring a lovely caramel flavor to these cookies. To make sure you get the perfect cookies, check out the tips Rebecca shares on her blog.
Hope you get to try them. Have a happy weekend. Take care of yourself. And be brave.
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ½ cup oil
- 1½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp wheat germ
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup trader joe's chocolate covered sea salt butterscotch, chopped in half
- 1 cup tart cherries, chopped
- Cream the butter, oil and sugar on medium speed till light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and making sure the previous is combined before adding the next.
- Add in the vanilla and mix on medium till blended.
- Sift the flours, baking soda, powder and sea salt. Add in the wheat germ.
- Dump the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the chopped cherries, chocolate covered sea salt butterscotch, and chocolate chips. Take 2 tbsp of cookie batter and roll into a ball.
- Freeze 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Bake 12-13 minutes.
- Once out of the oven sprinkle some sea salt.
- Cool 5 minutes on tray and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Oh yum! I’ve never made butter scotch cookies before!
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