As I mentioned before, I met Barb at KPMG in the early nineties; after a year or so, Barb decided to move to Vancouver. JT and I had just bought our home in the upper beach in Toronto and had a vacant basement apartment. We had never had a tenant before so we thought it might be nice to see if we liked it — so, to help Barb save money for her trip, we offered the apartment as a short term rental at a very low rent rate. Barb loved the idea and we became room-mates of sorts for a few months. During Barb’s last Christmas party at KPMG, one of the much loved partners (Evelyn) discovered that Barb lived in our basement, and she blurted out in her adorable Irish accent: “Bargain Basement Barb!” The entire table howled with laughter and to this day she is known as Bargain Basement Barb (I can hardly wait to mention this story to her children — but I want to do it when they are old enough to remember! No need to thank me Barbie!). In fact, this naming convention carried forward to our two other tenants (another friend and then a relative) there was Lower Level Leanne and Also Atilla (pronounce “ulshow” it means beneath in Hungarian!).
Barb has long since moved back to Toronto and is happily married with two young active girls. I am not sure if this recipe came about while Barb was living in our basement (there were many cookies left at the top of the stairs while she lived with us), but she did include them in our welcome package in our hotel room at her wedding in Niagara-on-the-Lake. They have remained a favourite throughout the years. There is no argument that the chunks of chocolate are an extravagent addition but I am often out of my slab chocolate (it seems to evaporate, not sure how!!! ;-)) so I substitute chips. Still yummy!
Bargain Basement Barb’s Ultimate Chocolate Chunk (or Chip) Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (chocolate chips work too)
- 8 oz milk chocolate, chopped into chunks (chocolate chips work too)
- 1 cup of dried, unsweetened cranberries or cherries (option)
Directions:
- Prehaeat the oven to 350°F.
- Line two heavy baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand), cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Beat in the vanilla.
- Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together into a small bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, mixing until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.
- Using your hands, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut into balls and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets (I prefer to use a 1″ dual handle ice cream scooper). Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes for smaller cookies, 14 to 17 minutes for larger cookies, or until the tops are light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Can be stored in air-tight container for 1 week or freeze in a zip lock bag and defrost as required!
[…] a dear friend discovered this recipe for chocolate chunk cookies; she shared it with us and then. Here is the original recipe. I did not do any Christmas baking this year. We were away for a long time […]
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[…] Gluten Free options, Mexican Macaroons (which I made using almond flour instead of white flour). Milk and Dark Chocolate Chunk with Cranberries are a favourite recipe from my friend Barb (Profiteroles and Ponytails) and this year I added dried […]
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BBB here. Thanks for bringing back such great memories Eva. I miss those carefree days. I’m certain the cookies from the top of the stairs were not the same recipe — although I’m also certain they weren’t slice and bakes. Guess there’s no way to avoid having you tell the BBB stories to the girls — unless of course I bribe you with wine….
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Bribing with wine could be dangerous, Barbie! I have a short memory! Those were indeed fun days!
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what a lovely story for these equally lovely cookies!:) It definitely added more tastes of joy to the cookies whenever you think of your friend, doesn’t it?:p
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Absolutely, Christy!
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what a fun story! Those cookies look seriously delicious!
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Thanks Manju; they are quite yummy.
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i am a cookie lover and i am so making these. strange how my chocolate bars disappear fast too! i swear its not me sneaking a bite. i swear:)
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I know what you mean Jessica. Crazy evaporating chocolate!
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That’s a really cute story! Love chocolate chip (or chunk) cookies and I’m always on the look out for good recipes, will definitely give yours a go!
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Thanks for dropping by Ichigo. Your brunch post looks delicious; I’ll drop by and post a comment (WordPress just crashed on my iPhone :()
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i do like to bake sweets all the time, it is always nice for guests. thanks for sharing. definitely going to have to give this a try!
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Thanks Raquel. I dropped by your recipes but I was unable to add a comment (or perhaps it’s just my iPhone). I’ll try again later.
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Ah you see, you’re obviously not buying enough chocolate if your large chocolate bars disappear! I’m always certain to buy large dark bars for cooking, and then some other truffle-stuffed bars specially for eating! That way I can guarantee that the cooking stuff stays where it is (because on the times I have run out of eating choc, I do indeed remark that the cooking supply starts to rapidly diminish :D)
Cute little story! Bargain basement Barb! Great cookies to boot 🙂 Thanks Eva 🙂
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Barb sounds like great fun and the cookies look just delicious!
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Hi Ann, thank you. Those were indeed cookie-filled fun days.
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Great recipe, and true to “Bargain Basement”, this yielded 95 cookies for me using the 1tbsp. scoop. I mixed up the chocolate, using a mix of dark, white and butterscotch morsels. As an extra hit of chocolate I plan to pipe melted chocolate in them.
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Sounds like a yummy mix, Pam! Thanks for the tips.
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What a nice story and a great cookie!
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Thanks Greg, blogging made me remember and that’s great!
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Nothing like a good chunk cookie and these certainly do qualify! Love, too, to learn how the recipe came into your life.
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Thank you John; blogging made me appreciate these memories even more (but now I have them written down so I can remember when I can’t!)
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Anything with double chocolate just has to be amazing doesn’t it? 😀
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You got it right Lorraine, happy Monday!
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That’s so funny, I’m always running out of chocolate too! I love chocolate chunk desserts and these cookies look wonderful Eva. How thoughtful of Barb to include them in your welcome package too… we should all be so lucky!
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Barb was a lovely hostess at her wedding, it really was a fairy tale wedding!
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What a cute story! Your cookie recipe comes just in time for my holiday baking today. Have a good Sunday!
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Thanks Kristi, they are extravagant with the volume of chocolate, but well worth it.
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A great take off on the traditional chocolate chip cookies. 🙂
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Thank you Maria, they are quite tasty, even with a glass of wine!
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I love the nicknames. Too cute. My kids would be very, very fond of these cookies. And how fun would that be to have a good friend rooming with you! I miss the years of living with my friends (not that I’d trade where I’m at), but those were fun times. 🙂
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They sure were, Kristy. And the cookies at the top of the stairs sure didn’t hurt!
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What a fun story and name of the chocolate cookies!
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It’s really interesting where the cookies originate from, Angie.
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