By Paige Jackson ’24
Once every moon, ten young bakers take to the dining hall kitchens. With nothing but a recipe and a box of supplies, they create a masterpiece. How do they do it? Let’s find out!
Led by masterchef Erin Whitney and her top sous-chef, Mairin Hoffman, these vigilante bakers whipped out an intriguing batch of chocolate chip cookies in merely 45 minutes on the sixth night of October. Yet, somewhere along the way, something went terribly wrong. The baked goods shifted from cookies to a muffin-like substance. The bakers were consumed with horror as they anxiously awaited the final result. When the cookies were finally removed from the oven, relief filled the kitchen. While the pastries looked odd, they tasted wonderful. The bakers left the kitchen with full stomachs and a sense of accomplishment.
If you’re looking for a quick and tasty but possibly rogue cookie recipe, the Baking Club suggests you try “The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever,” a household favorite of Erin Whitney, by the blog “Joy Food Sunshine.” The recipe can be found at the end of this article.
“I started Baking Club because I missed being able to bake and use a kitchen while I was at school because it is one of the things I really love to do when I’m home,” Whitney explained. “I thought that there should be an opportunity for students to do this because I feel like it’s just a very homey thing and makes students feel at home on campus.”
The Baking Club will meet once a month on Thursday nights. Students have to sign up for each meeting individually using the document that Whitney sends out each month. There is a small fee of two dollars for each meeting to pay for ingredients. All things considered, that isn’t too bad. Each baker took away five cookies at the last meeting, which would cost you at least fifteen dollars at the PO (no hate to them, those cookies are heavenly).
Avery Clement, an excited new member of Baking Club, spoke to the Highlander News Network on her experience in the kitchen; “I think it was really good, I think I’ve had the professional chef experience now.”
“I would rate them [the cookies] a thousand out of ten actually, the rawness really brought out the flavor,” Clement responded when asked about the infamous cookies. While the Baking Club might not have a perfect success rate, they certainly have fun.
INGREDIENTS
- ▢ 1 cup salted butter softened
- ▢ 1 cup white (granulated) sugar
- ▢ 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ▢ 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ▢ 2 large eggs
- ▢ 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1 tsp baking soda
- ▢ ½ tsp baking powder
- ▢ 1 tsp sea salt
- ▢ 2 cups chocolate chips (or chunks, or chopped chocolate)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugars until combined.
- Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
- Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
- Add a 12 oz package of chocolate chips and mix well.
- Roll 2-3 TBS (depending on how large you like your cookies) of dough at a time into balls and place them evenly spaced on your prepared cookie sheets. (alternately, use a small cookie scoop to make your cookies).
- Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Take them out when they are just BARELY starting to turn brown.
- Let them sit on the baking pan for 2 minutes before removing to the cooling rack.
