One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two.

I know. Another stack of cookies. 

Sometimes I try to get creative. Sometimes I just throw the cookies on a plate and scatter some flour and chocolate chips and things in the background like some kind of artistic baking explosion just naturally happened in my kitchen... but I'm too type A for that. When I get behind the camera, the next thing I know my hand's sneaking into the frame, organizing everything into pretty little piles.

I can't help it. It's who I am. 

I also giggle a lot when I'm making miniature things. Miniature cookies. Miniature muffins. Miniature recipes for making two vanilla cupcakes. There's just something exciting about scaling everything down. 

... maybe because you know you're about to eat twice as many chocolate chip pancakes and feel half as guilty about it.

Sidenote: I also giggle when my dad makes beer-can chicken. That's happening right now. I can't even go into the kitchen. It's... yeah. I don't even want to talk about it.

But I was in there earlier though! For ten minutes. Making chocolate chip cookies.   

Four of them. These four. Like... seriously. This is the entire batch. 

Because like the vanilla cupcakes for two, sometimes you just want a warm, chewy, freshly-baked, crispy chocolate chip cookie to share with someone without having to worry about the other twenty or so cookies, that you say you'll give away to family and friends, or freeze and eat reasonably over the next couple of weeks... but we all know will just wind up getting eaten over the open freezer sometime between 3 and 4 AM within three days of baking them.

Not that this ever happens. 

You know. Just every time I bake cookies. Whatever.

The best thing about this recipe though, minus the reduced guilt and the fact that they're amazing delicious cookies, is the creativity. You can do anything with them. It's like life! Throw in peanut butter chips. Pretzels. Crushed Oreos. Twix. All the above! Invent your very own cookie. 

Tell me this makes someone else giggle. I can't take myself seriously when I'm only baking four cookies. It's like Easy-Bake Oven for grown-ups, you know? Because of the real oven and all.

P.S. The full recipe for these can be found here, in case you want more than four cookies sometimes... like twenty-four. A whole two dozen. I fully support that.

Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two

Printable Recipe

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt
A pinch of cinnamon
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon beaten egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix together the shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add the tablespoon of beaten egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Roll dough into four cookie balls and place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet (you can also bake them in two lightly greased tart pans, a muffin top pan, cupcake pan, whatever you desire). Flatten them slightly with your hand.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 4 chocolate chip cookies. 

Source: Adapted from Heather's Dish.