It seems like the more I try to focus on my blog the more distracted I get. I made these cookies a few weekends ago, but decided to sideline it in favour of my mother's birthday cake. And then I got distracted by work, shiny objects, and now games. You're not going to care, but I am going to tell you anyways, that Darksiders 2 came out on Tuesday; a game I have been excited for since its announcement. I bring this up for two reasons: first, because I wish I were playing it right now; and second because a review for the game has garnered some ill will towards the reviewer.

Audrey Drake’s IGN review for Darksiders 2 awarded the game a 7.5. For IGN this equates to "good" as in "Darksiders 2 is a good game." However, according to the comment section of the review, 7.5 equivocates to “horrible”. The vitriol spewed at the reviewer through the veil of internet anonymity is nothing short of astounding. The attacks are personal and professional; vulgar, sexist, and hateful; all over someone's opinion of a video game, a video game these people haven’t even played. This behaviour is not unique to video games, but it seems to occur often in our community and each time I see it or hear about it, I'm shocked. When did it become unacceptable for someone to hold an opinion in opposition to your own? And why is it okay to verbally abuse a person because you disagree? If your position is so weak that you need to resort to insults then perhaps you need to revisit it or become better informed. A reviewer’s job is to give an opinion based on their expertise of a product, no more or less. Someone else’s opinion should not impact your own. It is up to you to form your own opinions based on your experiences. In the end, if you disagree, that's fine; if you have something intelligent to say in response, that's also fine; but it is never okay to attack someone because you disagree. As a general rule, if you wouldn't say it to your mother, you probably shouldn't say it to a stranger (if your mother is Mrs. Bates you might get a pass).

As of this writing I am four hours into Darksiders 2 (it was two hours when I first started writing this) and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe this will change, maybe it won't; but someone else’s opinion isn't going to hinder my enjoyment of it either way. Oh and did I mention that she said it was a "good" game?

As I said, this behaviour isn't unique to video games; the whole of the internet is plagued by people like this. Even someone as sweet and innocent as a food blogger (:)) must put up with these attacks; simply because they have an opinion contrary to someone else.

Honestly, grow up people.

So what does this have to do with chocolate chip cookies? Almost nothing. As another weekend approached my brother mentioned once again that I never make chocolate chip cookies. My reasoning for this has always been that they're kind of boring, that no one wants to read about chocolate chip cookies. I envision people reading the title of the recipe and thinking “Chocolate chip cookies? How’s he going to add yogurt to that?” But in an attempt to silence my brother’s complaints, I finally broke down and made plain old boring chocolate chip cookies. And then I realized something that I should have never forgotten:

Chocolate chip cookies are awesome! :).

This recipe is one that I have had bookmarked for a while. The author Felix K’s opinion (:)) is that they are the best ever. Although I’m not sure I would go that far, they are very good. I made no alterations to the recipe other than to halve it and make smaller cookies. I’m not a fan of large cookies. I do like gigantic cookies but when you bake large individual cookies it makes you feel like a cave troll eating more than one.

The cookies were crisp with a slightly chewy the middle. Not abundantly sweet, with just the right amount of chocolate chips; and to top it off, there’s a bit of the salty-sweet mixed in there. In the future the only change I might want to try is to increase the salt to further highlight this contrast (but I’ve had issues with this in the past).

I’m really happy that I finally made some run of the mill chocolate chip cookies in spite of my concerns. And if you truly do believe that chocolate chip cookies are boring or don’t taste good, no worries; I’m cool with that.

I’m going to go play Darksiders now :).

~Adam

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from All Recipes

Yields Approx 3 1/2 dozen 2 inch cookies (using small cookie scoop )

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (228g)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup packed golden yellow/light brown sugar (220g)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)
3 tbsp sugar (42g)
1 large egg, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300F and lightly grease large cookie sheets.

In a small bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.

In the bowl of a mixer add butter and both sugars and beat on medium speed until smooth and fluffy.

Add egg and vanilla and continue to beat until combined.

Reduce mixer speed to low, and slowly add dry ingredients until no streaks of flour remain.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 17 minutes
or until edges of the cookies have browned (16 to 17 was best for me).

Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 10 minutes before moving to rack to cool completely.