I L-O-V-E fall...and cookies

Fall has got to be my favorite season. It's even more apparent to me how much I love the fall now that I live in a place that actually experiences fall-like weather. It will be 55 degrees when I wake up tomorrow morning (compare to the 90 degrees in Florida) and will not rise above 70 degrees. How lovely!

The hubby and I have been laying low for the past few weeks due to our financial situation (which will improve after we get paid tomorrow...whoop whoop!) so I've had to opportunity to explore my domestic side, which has really come into its own since we moved here. Well, to be fair, it does help that I work 10 hours less a week than I was in Tampa (and that I work from home!).

I've been baking like a madwoman lately and have been really enjoying it, except for the fact that we are both gaining weight...ha! The perils of being a domestic goddess, I guess! I've been on a cookie kick and have made three different batches of cookies in the past TWO weeks. Cookies, I'm convinced, are absolutely the perfect thing to eat on days like today (or any day, for that matter). I've made chocolate chip cookies twice and shortbread cookies this past weekend. The brown sugar and pecans in the chocolate cookies are so yummy. And when they're eaten after cooling for 10 minutes or so, they get a little crunchy around the edges and stay soft and chewy in the center.

I have to spread the love, so here's the recipe:

(One thing to note: You don't have to make the whole batch at once! Roll the dough you make up in parchment paper and slice off dough two or three cookies at a time as you get a craving...I used our toaster oven to bake them so I don't have to pre-heat my giant oven.)

Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies (This is the original Toll House cookie recipe)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I might try substituting whole-wheat flour for these next time)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 pound (2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon water

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips the first time I made this and my husband preferred them to the semisweet)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1) Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour, salt and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2) Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add eggs, vanilla, and water. Beat until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl.

3) Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, 15 or 20 seconds. Add chocolate chips and nuts and stir until combined.

4) Drop batter by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing pieces of dough about 1 inch apart. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and front to back), until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges begin to crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks with wide spatula.

5) Get a cold glass of milk and enjoy!!