The world's best Chocolate Chip cookies

Can you really beat the plain chocolate chip cookie? Or perhaps, the same cookie loaded with a double dose of chocolate chunks and nuts. Or maybe dunked in a glass of cold milk.

Probably not :))

Nestle Toll House cookies has been handing out the recipe for the 'best tasting chocolate chip cookies' for over half a century now. And we do know that thousands of moms across America have been baking this recipe in their kitchens and feeding their kids, what to each of them tastes like the 'world's best chocolate chip cookies ever'.

And really, this famous classic American cookie is a treat no matter what the age or occasion!

I haven't tried the Nestle Toll House recipe yet, but not so long ago I tried making a couple of batches of chocolate chips/walnut cookies for Christmas. Did I, in my maiden attempt, succeed in turning a bowl of uncooked batter into a sweet goodness of chunks that just melted in the mouth?

Honestly, I didn't even get close.

They were sweet but overcooked, crunchy but insanely tough, and I think one batch just tasted (and even looked) like sweetened mud cakes! I remember trying to serve them in a pretty looking glass bowl to everyone who visited my home during the holiday season and it wasn't long before their polite "No thank you" turned into a glaring "What will you take to keep those mud sliders away from us?" I am sincerely sorry to have subjected my poor friends and loyal tasters to such ruthless, stomach-wrenching rounds of tasting.

Oh well, someday I still aspire to be the mom who makes the world's best chocolate chip cookies :))

But until then I have decided to explore the territories of other, better-experienced and well-known bakers. In short, I will just be visiting some popular bakeries around to sample some delicious molten goodness of chocolate and flour :))

Levain Bakery Manhattan, NY

"a monster-sized disk of gooey chocolate with a cake-like chewy texture"

Almondine Brooklyn, NY

"Fabulously chewy, moderately gooey, and absolutely delicious"

Jacques Torres Chocolate Manhattan, NY

"chocolatey, with plenty of chips"

And some more

Try these out, and remember to have your glass of creamy, ice cold milk ready!

Your cup of tea in the city - Tea Rooms of Manhattan

When it's time to relax, unfold your senses and simmer in an amalgam of your thoughts, no beverage other than the tea come to my mind.

Whether you like your cuppa tea served in a calming green tone with freshly boiled leaves or refreshing black with a dash of cream and sugar....there's a little for every personality in the various tea rooms established all over New York city.

And when I am not inclined towards hunting down one of these divine tea rooms, I just turn around the corner and enter through those doors marked with the friendly, green Starbucks logo :)






Cha-An
Neighborhood: East Village
230 E. 9th St
(between 2nd Ave & 3rd ave)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cha-an-new-york
A Japanese Tea House recommended for some authentic tea, served with equally delicious food and marvelous desserts!

Tea Spot
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
127 MacDougal Street
(between W 3rd and W 4th streets)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tea-spot-new-york#hrid:OaRBzwS5D-J6MB4rp2VvpA
A great selection of teas topped off with free wi-fi connectivity!

Midtown New York lunchtime

A guide to attaining culinary satisfaction in the food wasteland of Midtown Manhattan!
http://midtownlunch.com/zachs-picks/

...read some Readers polls:
http://midtownlunch.com/2009/01/07/the-best-midtown-lunches-as-voted-on-by-you-2008-edition/

And meet the Vendy Awards finalists
http://streetvendor.org/vendys/finalists