Making Cookies

So, cookies. I love baking. I love cookies. Chocolate chip are my favorite. I have always wanted to make *my recipe* though. Instead of using you know, the Nestle cookie recipe. But, whenever I want cookies I just go back to making that one.
Just in case you need a reminder, here's that tried and true recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


So. I wanted to make it more mine. And I don't know if it is the elevation or what but every time I bake these the cookies turn out kinda oddly flat. So my mother suggested adding more flour, perhaps I could check out some other recipes from other people and change or add things based on those recipes. Of course, most of the chocolate chip cookie recipes I found were basically the Nestle Tollhouse recipe. Heh. Found a great article here listing some great tips for making these cookies. They did suggest uping the flour and actually also adding more vanilla to the recipe. I liked that idea. Another one is adding some milk to the mix, which I might try next time. Oh and keeping the dough cold, which I just think helps with handling the dough.
So I tried adding more flour (I added too much). This did help my cookies gain a beautiful fluffy texture. They also taste better this way. However, I can tell from the taste that there is a little too much flour this time.
I loved the vanilla. It was great. Really yummy flavor.
I didn't do the milk, like I said, but I want to try next time.
The article did mention how the butter should be softened rather slowly and to make sure that it is softened. Well, I basically melted mine completely on accident. I think this made a lot of difference. While I am not going to liquidify it next time like this time, I want to make it pretty soft.
I am excited my cookies look pretty instead of yucky flat though! Yay!!
Thanks Stephanie Vardavas for the tips on baking.

Hopefully will keep updated this. Maybe something more interesting than this next time. Oh, maybe I can detail my accidental amazingness on enchiladas I made the other week

Copyright eductation

Hey all!
Sorry I haven't been on in a while...I just wanted to do some research on copyright stuff before I blogged anything of note. I am thinking about blogging some very important issues to myself as well as to some ongoing research projects so I needed to find some of this information.
I did find some great information from some other bloggers! Here's some great information from LAOB.
So basically I am going to try and put together a Creative Commons license for myself and then I will be back on!
Thanks!
Lins

She's a blogger

Greets. So I was reading Contexts the other day, a magazine created by ASA and managed by a team in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota, is a magazine that takes interesting thing in the news and looks at the stories Sociologically. I am a Sociology student, and very interested in such things. In the magazine they were asking for bloggers interested in blogging on various interesting thing to apply. I was immediately interested..however, I have never really gotten into blogging. So, I figured instead of applying just to SEE what happened..I would try it in a safer zone first. Therefore, ladies and gents, let me introduce my new blog "My World." I am hoping to blog on not only the various aspects of my life that seem interesting but things going on in the world. I also would like to try my hand at actually connecting things like Sociological theories and such to these observations. It should be interesting. I will hold on, as should you, I'm sure my observations will be at least somewhat interesting.