the making of (y)great(y) cookies

finally, on my last attempt, some awesome dark chocolate chip walnut cookies are ready to serve! tho they still need some improvement on their appearances, i'm sure anyone would love the not-so-sweat, rich, soft and yet crisp outside taste... man, i just ate 3 gigantic ones @ 11:30 at night... i'm hopeless...

but anyways, here's the recipe (from "Real Simple" again) and some tips:
1. beat 1 unsalted butter stick, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons honey (the recipe uses corn syrup), 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (i use the natural one) for *3 min* -- the 3 min is really the key that i finally figured out today. the mixture has to be light and creamy

2. add 1 egg and beat until combined

3. in a separate bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (i use the kind that contains whole wheat and bran, but still has a white flour texture, just to stay healthy =), a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. it's always better to sift the flour.

4. combine 3 into 2 with the electric mixer set on low

5.1 for chocolate chip walnut cookies, add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips (i love the 50% cocoa hershey's i bought), and 1/4 cup of walnut (or almond in the original recipe). combine.

5.2 i also did pine nut once. it was a big hit at the party as well. spread 1.5 cup pine nuts. roll the cookie base balls so nuts stick on

5.3 the recipe also has an oatmeal and pie spice variation, but my batch failed disastrously because it became too dry after i added the 1 cup oatmeal and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger mixture

6. bake in 375F oven for 12-15 min until cookies are brown on the edges. cool for 5 min, and transfer to the plate

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! ENJOY!

this is what they're supposed to look like 8-)