Sunny Side Up #1: Tom Hanks & Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sunny Side Up #1: Tom Hanks & Chocolate Chip Cookies
🍪 cookie recipe enclosed!
Did you know that birds find worms underground because they can hear them? They have really acute hearing and they can hear the earthworms wriggling about beneath the surface. Sometimes they tap their little feet to pretend to be rain so that the worms poke their little heads out and then they nab them. Isn’t that clever? I Googled it yesterday.
Our brains are absurdly clever. Which, don’t get me wrong, is fantastic when they’re being used to do big and important things like heart surgery or writing the next War & Peace or cooking Christmas dinner. However, when they’re trying to trick us, the cleverness of the brain isn’t very appreciated. I mean, hello - I’m not the enemy here! I know this isn’t just me. If it were, therapists everywhere would be out of a job. Once my brain stops worrying about one thing, it will hyper-fixate on another. And it’s always so niche! It’s always something that would have never occurred to me before, and then all of a sudden, my entire world revolves around this one thing, and this one thing will be my downfall.
The worst part? I will be having a lovely time, and then my brain will remind me that I’m supposed to be worrying right now. Isn’t that sneaky? It’s like when you’re eating an egg, and it tastes fine, and you might even be enjoying it if you like eggs, but then you realise that you’re eating an egg, and all of a sudden you feel a bit sick and you want to stop eating. That’s the kind of feeling I’ve been dealing with for the past month.
The good news is that a bad month is only a matter of weeks, and I can definitely recover from a few bad weeks. People have done much more difficult things in the world, after all.
“You make a million decisions that mean nothing and then one day you order takeout that changes your life.”
My slump has involved a spectacular commitment to watching Tom Hanks movies. Sleepless in Seattle is my favourite. Anything written by Nora Ephron is always going to come out on top. You know that famous part where he says that every morning he’s just going to get out of bed and breathe in and out all day long? It’s really sad and moving in the context of the film, but it’s also a reminder that when things are tough, we can just take it all one step at a time. Breathe in, then breathe out again. Repeat. There’s just something about Hanks that feels safe and sound, like I wholeheartedly trust this man that I have never met before and know nothing about. Is this what they call a parasocial relationship? When I can’t conjure up hope for myself, Tom Hanks can find it for me.
The other way I’ve been coping with said slump is baking. In the past four weeks, I’ve made three batches of chocolate chip cookies (and totally nailed the recipe, always a bright side), dabbled in bread for the first time ever with a sourdough, aaand I made my first enriched dough when I made petit pains au lait (bit of a fail but where’s the fun in getting everything right first time?). A real sense of assurance can be found in knowing that if you measure ingredients precisely and follow the instructions, you’ll come out with something delightful. No matter how badly the day may have gone, or how low you feel, you’ve still made the perfect cake. And there are so many more perfect cakes to be eaten. 🍰
When I share my bakes with people and their mouths curl into smiles it makes my stomach warm. My brother-in-law requested a batch of cookies because he loved them so much. It gave me a special kind of confidence boost, I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because something I made gave someone else joy. Isn’t there that whole thing where positivity attracts positivity?
All this to say - if my brain is clever enough to dig itself into a hole of doom then it’s clever enough to climb back out of said hole. ‘Sunny Side Up’ will chronicle the things bringing me joy in an attempt to hurl me out of the deep dark pit of worry and take note of all the good things life has to offer, because there are so many and it’s sooo annoying when our brains only want to resonate with the negative.
So, my question for you: what’s bringing you joy this week?
I have baked nearly sixty chocolate chip cookies in the last four weeks, and I will keep baking them.
A gorgeous sunny walk with my friend Liza. Sunshine, friends, a good cup of tea, saying hi to cute dogs along the way - is there a better way to spend a Sunday?
My sourdough! I was so proud of this.
Watching Sleepless in Seattle for the millionth time. You know what they say - if it’s not hurting anyone and it makes you happy…
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies 🍪
I am obsessed with this recipe from Jane’s Patisserie. The key to this is the bake time - the less time they’re in the oven, the chewier they will be. When you first take them out of the oven, leave them on the tray for a couple of minutes to solidify before transferring to the wire rack or they’ll just fall apart.
Ingredients:
175g salted butter, melted
225g light brown sugar
150g caster sugar
1 egg & 1 yolk
1tsp vanilla extract
275g plain flour
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
150g dark chocolate chips
Method:
Mix together melted butter & both sugars, then add eggs and vanilla extract and whip up together until it’s lighter in colour, all the lumpy bits are gone and it’s increased in volume. I use an electric standing mixer and just leave it running on a medium speed for about five minutes.
Then, add all the dry ingredients and mix again until it’s all combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips. You can add more or less depending on your preference, I find 150g is enough. You could also add nuts, pistachios or hazelnuts would work well, or go fancy and add cranberries and white chocolate chips.
Roll into small balls and place on a baking tray on greaseproof paper. I tend to fit five or six on a tray. The bigger they are I find they’re not as chewy. Bake at 170C for 12 minutes. They will be golden. If you like a firmer cookie, leave them in for longer, but don’t exceed 15 mins.
Enjoy! 💗