yay cookies!

This time last week, I was home sick. Like, really really sick. Like, I spent five and a half hours in urgent care sick. Come to think of it, I’ve been ill on and off since last December with a cough that just won’t quit. And recently, just went I thought I was getting better, the cough came back on full force to turn around and bite me right in the ass.

I thought the flu had finally come up and gotten me, but it turns out the cough was the more worrying aspect: I had pneumonia.

Funny thing though – has almost all of the same symptoms of the flu but the key difference is that you had the absolute worst cough you’ve ever had in your life instead. And your whole abdomen hurts and you wish so much you wouldn’t cough but that’s just not happening because your poor, poor lungs are infected. Suddenly going up the stairs is a major feat or just shuffling into another room since it’s generally hard to breathe and not break out in a cough attack.

After about a week of this and many antibiotics later, I was finally feeling better. Last Sunday I decided I was well enough to bake up a batch of cookies while watching the Oscars. I took my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe and tweaked it just a little bit.

The first adjustment: making browned butter.

This is really the bestest idea ever. I just love the smell of that nutty stuff!

The browned butter had to cool down a bit but it makes for some really dreamy cookie dough batter.

And as a result, just some dreamy cookies in return.

I call these “yay cookies!” since I was excited I was well enough to stand up and bake (yay, cookies could be made!).

Also: yay because they have browned butter! And giant chocolate chips! And these:

Double yay!

Of course I had so many leftover cookies that I had to spread the love of the yay cookies to my co-workers and friends.

I hope these encourage you to make some yay cookies today!

Also, I’m happy to report I am feeling much better and my cough is almost totally gone.

I hope it stays gone this time, too! No more sickness for me, pretty please.

And pretty please, make some cookies!

yay cookies!
(adapted from savory sweet life)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp. fleur de sel or smallish-medium coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• 2 cups Guittard milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup honey roasted silvered almonds

Melt and brown your butter in a medium sized pot. Set aside and let cool. Sift together your flour, fleur de sel, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Once your butter is cooled, add to your mixing bowl and mix with sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract and mix in.

In three parts, add your flour mixture. Mix in slowly until incorporated.

At the end, I like to mix the chocolate chips and almonds by hand until totally incorporated into the batter.

Using a medium ice cream scoop or spoons, spoon batter onto a prepared cookie sheet (I always use a silpat mat for my cookies). Keep cookies about 1 inch apart on the sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Once you bring them out of the oven, let them sit on the pan for a few minutes before removing to help them to set up first. The bottoms will be a luscious golden brown and you’ll be so excited you’ll need to do a yay dance and immediately eat two cookies off the bat.