Chocolate chip cookies were a staple in most of our childhoods. I, for one, have many memories of helping to measure flour and sugar, and then being told NOT to eat the cookie dough (and then eating it anyway). Then again, as a child I was more than happy to be given anything sweet. Now a days I'm not the biggest consumer of cookies-- I find them boring to make and boring to eat. Nevertheless, when I came across Buzzfeed's "Perfect" Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I felt a relentless urge to try it out. Why? I'm not exactly sure, especially since Buzzfeed's "Perfect" Chocolate Cake recipe turned out to be such an epic failure. Still, I tried it, and here are my results. (In the video) 
The conclusion that I came to was that yes, these are in fact some spectacular cookies. They have a crunchy outside and a goey middle-- which, for most, is what would be defined as the "perfect" cookie. Would I say they're the best in the entire world? See, the difficult thing is that first off, they're not exactly my preferred type of cookie, and secondly I don't eat a lot of cookies therefore I can't exactly be the best judge of what the "best" is. My favorite kind of cookie is the really crunchy sort-- and while goey is good, I think crunchy is better. The recipe is certainly better than your average cookie, due to the extra ingredients in it such as browned butter and espresso powder-- they just add more layers of flavor that really make it a treat for your tongue. 
The recipe is definitely a lot more work than your average cookie recipe as well-- such as the browned butter. While the browned butter makes the flavor go beyond average, it also takes an age to make. And all the extra steps do add up to a lot of extra time (which can be assumed, I suppose, because adding anything extra would obviously add extra time). I would recommend trying making these if you're looking for something fancy-- maybe to impress people, or maybe just to try a really good cookie. If you just want a quick and easy cookie, this certainly isn't the recipe for you. 
I followed every step given, including the recommended but unnecessary step of leaving the cookies to sit in the fridge overnight. This is a way to develop more flavor in the dough-- actually, it's a trick that many bakeries use, and since I wanted these cookies to be the best they could, I left them to sit overnight. Which turned out to be harder than I expected-- the extra ingredients made this cookie dough even more deadly and tempting than other doughs. All I wanted to do was just gobble down the raw dough, needless to say I was pretty excited to try them after they were baked off the next morning. 
I also added half a teaspoon less salt than the recipe called for after reading a comment on the original video saying the normal amount was WAY too salty. Personally, I think this was a good choice because the cookies I tried seemed to have just the right balance of salt in them, but according to Caitlin, I should've added the extra salt and that would've made them just perfect for her. So, if you're a fan of salty cookies, go for the full two teaspoons. 

Also here's the link to Buzzfeed's video and recipe-- but just so you don't have to click on another link, here is the full recipe written out below as well. :)


Makes 18 cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup bread flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1½ teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons cold water
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). (Unless you want to let the cookies sit overnight in the fridge)
In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. 
In a medium light-bottomed saucepan, add the butter and melt over medium heat. 
Bring the butter to a boil, stirring occasionally. As the water begins to boil out of the butter, the milk solids in the butter will separate, sink to the bottom, and begin to toast and brown. As this begins to happen, make sure to stir constantly so the butter browns evenly. It may become quite foamy and difficult to see, so keep a close eye on it.
Once the butter has turned a nice nutty brown, remove from the heat and pour into a liquid measuring cup to stop the cooking. Give it a stir and add 2-3 tablespoons of cold water to the butter to bring it back up to 1 cup of liquid. Set aside to cool to room temperature. To help speed this process up, you can place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. You want to make sure the butter is still liquid when you’re adding it to the dough later on, so make sure to remove after 15 minutes.
In a large bowl, add the sugars, vanilla, espresso powder, and cooled brown butter. Cream together with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. (If not becoming fluffy, the butter may be too warm. Stick in the fridge for a bit to let it cool off and then try again.) 
Add the egg and yolk and beat until incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients, about ⅓ of the mixture at a time, and beat between additions until just incorporated. It’s okay for there to be a bit of unmixed flour on the edge of bowl, this will be incorporated in the next step. 
Using a wooden spoon, fold the chocolate chips and chunks into the dough
Scoop the cookies onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet in 3-tablespoon-sized mounds. 
For optimal flavor, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or, even better, overnight. 
Evenly space the dough 3 inches apart from one another on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven for 12-14 minutes. 
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!

Thanks for reading, 
​Anj

Yup, I'm on another diet. Am I technically cheating by making these? Yep. But the key word there is technically. Technically the only rules I'm breaking are no recreating an unhealthy dish, and using coconut flour. Okay, and I guess using vanilla, but the only reason vanilla is banned from the diet is so no one can get drunk off of it, and I promise there's not enough vanilla in these to get drunk off of, even if there was, it'd be cooked off before these are in an edible state anyway. 
Well, these brownies are absolutely fantastic, you wouldn't even know they were healthy brownies if you just ate them. I promise. They're so good, I highly encourage everyone to try these. They're honestly... I can't even describe it. Last time my staple "goodie" was the healthy twix bar recipe (which I already shared), this time? I've probably been eating too many of these... well, haha let's not think about it. Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cocoa powder (or cacao) 
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate 
3/4 cup honey 
2 eggs 
1 tsp vanilla 
1/4 cup coconut flour 
1/2 tsp salt 
1 tsp espresso powder (optional) 

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper. 
2. In a medium saucepan, combine coconut oil, cocoa (or cacao) powder, and unsweetened chocolate, whisking constantly over medium heat. Whisk until mixture is smooth and without any lumps. 
3. Remove from heat and stir in honey, this should thicken the mixture. 
4. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, mixing quickly so the eggs do not scramble. 
5. Add in coconut flour, salt, and espresso powder. Mix until no dry pockets remain. 
6. Pour into the prepared pan, and spread to corners. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the middle can be poked. 
7. Store in the fridge after the first day to keep fresh. 

Thanks for reading! 
​-Anj

I've officially graduated from Middle School. Ah this feels so weird. Yes, yes, I know, graduating middle school is nothing compared to college and high school, but right now it seems pretty big. This Thursday I went out to lunch with Atticus, Ryan, Josh and Josh's little sister, Emme. It was fun. I had to leave early (2) because my mom and Aunt Sandy were taking me to get my nails done. I also got my eyebrows waxed. I used a blue color that matched my dress almost perfectly on both my fingers and toes. And then I got sparkles put on my... I don't know what it's called the finger next to the pinky. I think it looks cute. 
As soon as I got home from getting my nails done, I got to work on my gift for my class (lip balm, sugar scrub and soap 100% homemade). Unfortunately I wasn't quite on schedule (I was supposed to finish the gift the day before) Anyway, making that stuff took forever, I was up till 9 making it. Then I had to shower. I'd told myself I'd go to bed early that night since I had to get up early the next day but... 
Anyway on the morning of graduation/ yesterday morning I woke up at 5:30. Slowly, I got my breakfast and brushed my teethies. Then I woke up Zia. She helped, lie, she did my hair and makeup for graduation which was really nice of her. She didn't even get to eat breakfast before going to school. 
Anyway, after Zia left, I went upstairs and started making packages for the gifts for my classmates. I just cut a paper plate and folded it up. I didn't have any better packaging. But hey, it worked out. I ended up being 8 minutes late because I was working on the packaging. So if any of my classmates are reading this, THAT GRADUATION GIFT TOOK LITERALLY FOREVER TO MAKE. *smiles sweetly* love you guys. <3 
We had to get to the school at 9:45 for pictures. (or 9:53 for me.) Turns out we actually didn't have that many pictures, we just stood in front of the stage in pretty much the same position as all the parents snapped pictures of us, but hey, it's cool.
I found it amusing that all the guys matched with their purple tie/bow ties (for the Peppelmans) and then the girls were just like bleh. Mrs. Hogan Fiona's mom, is a florist so she brought in these adorable little bouquets for the girls and purple boutonnieres for the boys. The girls were supposed to put the boutonnieres on the guys.... Lol that didn't work out too well since none of us knew how to do so. I tried, Atticus! I tried. 
As we were standing in the hallway behind the gym, waiting to walk out, I had a mini heart attack. I was kind freaking out. Let's just leave it at I get nervous easily. 
You know how when you were younger you could really feel it when it was Christmas and as you got older the feeling you had on Christmas was just normal and nothing special? It was kinda the same with Graduation. I always thought I'd feel different on graduation like feel that it was graduation. But I didn't. So graduation felt so surreal, like a dream, like it wasn't actually happening. But it did happen. I'm pretty sure.. 
The graduation ceremony went by very quickly. And shockingly, I didn't trip and face plant on the stage. Though I did take my diploma with the wrong hand... Aw when the kindergarteners gave us the flowers? It was adorable. 
Fiona was our class speaker. She did great. Her speech was funny and well written. I really enjoyed listening to it. Nikos Casto was the Valedictorian for the boys. His speech was hilarious. It was about the 'war' going on between the boys and Dr. Feerrrar throughout the whole year. I was laughing the whole time. He was a good choice for Valedictorian. 
After the class speakers, Dara and Zach presented the class gift- donating money to Nepal. Then the slideshow. It was great, I'm disappointed that we don't get a copy of it. In the slideshow was a recording of the 8th Grade Girls singing Appreciated by Rixton. I used it in the video I posted on Youtube, which I'll link to below. Feel free to like and subscribe to my channel! (In fact, I encourage it.) 
After graduation we walked out and screamed and all that stuff. Then the parents and friends and family and all that stuff came out to congratulate us and give gifts and take many many many pictures. Here are a FEW

For my graduation lunch, I chose to go to Kyoto, my FAVORITE RESTAURANT. Can you guess what kind of restaurant it is? SUSHI, of course. 

After graduation my Aunt Sandy and Aunt Sue left to go home :(. Then I went home, changed into my bikini and waited until 3:30-- there was a pool party at the Trautmen's-- I didn't actually swim at all. It was a very short party- ending at 5. I then went home and worked on editing together my video (as I said before I'll link to that below) (Like and subscribe) and then my dad made me a hot dog which I didn't want/eat and then I showered. 
I was doing great on time and then Zia said she couldn't do my make up for the dance party... So I was late because I did my own (and I know next to nothing on make up so I had to work really hard at making it look almost mediocre.) And then the dance party turned out to be mostly in the dark... 
The parents planned out the dance party and it was really cute how much effort they put into it. So parents, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! It was a lot of fun. 
The dance party was club themed, which was cool. There were three main rooms, the club area where there was a dance floor, strobe lights and next to no lighting, and a 'bar' that served sparkling apple cider, strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas. The next room was the food area with a air hockey table and the last room had the 'photo booth' and T-shirts that read Club 2k15. Then there was an area out back with chairs and an area out front with a fire. I spent the majority of the party hanging out with Atticus and just kinda floating around. We went down to the fire for a bit because he was really cold. Then we went back to the main house area. I didn't dance much because I SUCK at dancing and also don't get how to do it. (Yeah, I'm dumb) but when Shut up and Dance with Me came on I had to dance. Atticus just kinda awkwardly stood there. As soon as that song ended we went back out of the dance room. Then we did shirt signing in which I obnoxiously signed a lot of people's shirts very large. It was fun. 
Anyway that was the last time I'll be seeing Nikos and Lance Casto for a while (they're moving). Bye Castos! I'll miss you guys in next years geometry class. 
Is there anything else I'm really dying to say? Nope not really. Thanks for reading my blog! 
I'll see you guys next time, 
-Anj

You can follow my YouTube channel @Anji Cooper I post random videos mostly with my friends :D 

You all know you want to check this video out. I was bored and didn't feel like reading so.... this trailer was created. SORRY TO URSULA FOR SPELLING YOUR LAST NAME WRONG! Anyway, you want to watch this video... rightttt???

Starring 
Fiona Hogan
Emma Reuter 
And Ursula Friesen 

Written, Edited, and Directed by 
Mwa