One of the great things about the internet is that you can learn all sorts of interesting new things without ever leaving your desk. For example, you can survey best-chocolate-chip-cookie contests and look for a consistent winner. In this case, the frequent favorite is the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.

I made a batch yesterday to share with friends, and in that process both determined that they are superior in every way to my prior favorite recipe, and that this fabulous recipe can be adapted to make it a bit simpler to prepare.

The adaptations are just two: first, the recipe calls for cake flour (7-8% protein) and bread flour (14-16% protein) used in equal amounts. The average protein content is thus about 10 - 12%...exactly the same as the all-purpose flour that you probably have in your cupboards and canisters...so use that instead. I have not yet done the side-by-side comparison, but I can assure you that just using regular flour tastes great.

The second adaptation concerns shaping the cookies. Let me be clear: making golf-ball sized scoops out of rock-hard dough was not fun. So for subsequent batches, I scooped the freshly made dough, chilled it and then quickly popped my flat-golf-ball-sized cookie dough balls onto the sheet for baking. Bonus: you can store them in your freezer and quickly whip up a batch for a last-minute treat.

One note about the chocolate. I would love to make these cookies with 1-1/4# (20 oz. or about 3-1/3 cups) of artisinal chocolate disks, but frankly I'm just too lazy to order them on-line or make a pilgrimage to a store that carries them. You can now buy high quality dark chocolate chips by Guittard and other manufacturers at your local Marketbasket or other grocery store; even Nestle's Special Dark chips work well. Of course if you would like to buy several bars of high-end chocolate and chop them for this recipe, you should!

The recipe's measures are shown by both weight and volume, and for this recipe and many others, consider is purchasing a scale. The Escali scale that I use costs just $23.50, and weighs everything from a gram of beads to 5 pounds of bread dough (it may weigh more than 5#, but I've never tried it). One reason to use a scale is that it makes baking really speedy - you pour ingredients into the bowl right from their containers (press and hold the on button to reset the weight or "tare" the scale when adding a new ingredient). It's also much more accurate than volume measurement, and - bonus! - results in fewer dishes. I've had my scale for at least 5 years, and it's still accurate to the gram.

One more thing about this chocolate chip cookie recipe: the dough really does need to chill at least overnight. The chilling period causes the flour to break down slightly into it's component parts (one of which is actually sugar) and the water in the dough to evaporate - both of which lead to a cookie that is crisp on the outside and chewy within; in short, the cookie of your dreams.

Here is my (adapted) NY Times cookie recipe.

I also want to include a link to the Butter Flavored Crisco chocolate chip cookie recipe. Butter Flavored Crisco has no dairy (surprise!), and so if you substitute almond or soy milk for the 2Tbs of milk and use non dairy chocolate chips, you can have dairy free chocolate chip cookie that is also extremely good. Trader Joe's regular chocolate chips are also non-dairy, but it should be noted are packaged on machines that also package dairy and so are not safe for those with serious dairy allergies.

Even a simple batch of chocolate chip cookies deserve to taste great. If you buy pre-made dough, it will taste a LOT better than Chips Ahoy, and if you make cookies using the Butter Flavored Crisco recipe, they will be a LOT better than the pre-made dough. But to reach the pinnacle of chocolate chip cookie goodness, try the adapted NYTimes Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe - you may never go back.

For those interested, the plate in the top photo is indeed depression glass, a gift to my grandmother from my grandfather for their very first Christmas in 1932. Here is the note she sent when she gave me the dish:

Like many of us, I learned to cook in my mother's kitchen, using my mother's kitchen knives. And what knives they were! She had purchased them from the Cutco Company upon the occasion of her marriage in 1961. One of the best features of these knives - and key factor in her purchase decision - was that they *never* needed to be sharpened. I started cooking when those knives had seen about 15 years of daily use. New to the kitchen, I thought it was normal to "cut" fresh vegetables by sawing them to little shreds while holding your knife in a white-knuckled grip. Although my mother very sadly passed away in 2002, my dad still uses those knives. And they have not been sharpened to this day.

Fifteen years into my own marriage, my Chicago Cutlery knives (a wedding gift) had made a few trips to the knife sharpener. Wanting a more convenient and cost-effective solution, I attended a knife sharpening seminar at Williams Sonoma. After watching a lengthy demonstration of a $300 electric knife sharpener, I pulled a friendly-looking clerk aside to ask what other choices there were (I may have used the phrase "a knife sharpener for real people"). He was refreshingly honest and pulled out a hand-held device encased in plastic. It cost $20.99, and he told me that he used it himself and it worked really well. I bought one, and have had razor sharp knifes ever since.

You might think that a $15 (the price has gone down!) knife sharpener should not be used on your good knives, and I'd ask you to check with the store you purchased from if you are concerned. But as long as your knife is not serrated (serrated means it has little teeth, like a bread knife) and is honed from steel (not stamped), it can be sharpened. You do not want to sharpen stamped knives or ceramic knives (photos below), but any other knife with a steel cutting surface will work (see the photos at the bottom)

These are knives that CANNOT be sharpened using a knife sharpener.

These are knives that CAN be sharpened with a knife sharpener.

I can't promise you that your onions will chop themselves, but I can tell you it will go faster and you'll enjoy your chopping a lot more. If you'd like to order one of these extremely useful devices (or give yourself a gift you wish you'd received for the holidays), you can find it here.

I've posted a video to the You Can Cook Facebook timeline as well, because seeing is believing, and I was shocked at how easy this was to use and how much it has improved my knives...and by extension my enjoyment of the time I spend in the kitchen. Stir fry, anyone??

How could something our ancestors hauled across the prairie in a Conestoga wagon possibly qualify as a cool tool?

Let me assure you that it most definitely does. After all, what would you say about a pan costing less than $25 that lasts your entire life? A pan that can be used to saute, deep fry, caramelize and bake? A pan that keeps your food hot while you're eating your meal? A non-stick pan that you can heat up to 500 degrees? About the only thing you can't do with this pan is scramble an egg, and even that is possible if you use enough butter.

I'm talking about a 10" cast iron skillet.

But before we talk about all the delicious things you can make in this pan, let's address a couple of issues up front. There are two, and they are related: the mythical "seasoning" process that cast-iron requires, and cleaning the pan once this seasoning has been achieved.

I recently watched a horrific YouTube video about cleaning a cast-iron pan. First the video advised a thorough rinsing of the (still hot!) pan, followed by a gentle wiping clean. Next, viewers were advised to pour a 1/2 cup of salt in the pan and get to work with a wad of paper towels and some serious elbow grease. I assure you that if my 25+ year old pan required such TLC, I would have sold it at a rummage sale 24 years ago.

Here's all you need to know:

Start by buying a pan that is "pre-seasoned". The best brand is Lodge, and the pre-seasoned 10" pan that I own sells for $14.97 on Amazon. Free delivery with Amazon Prime!

You can also season the pan by either wiping it with vegetable oil and baking it for an hour at 350 degrees OR cooking 1/2# of bacon in it. I know which I prefer!

After use, clean the pan by gently scrubbing it out with a Dobie pad (or similar), using a little soap if needed. After all, do I really want this morning's apple pancake tasting like last night's fajitas? I can speak from experience on this: apple pancake and cumin is not a good flavor blend.

Wipe it dry, or if you are cursed with an electric stove like I am, leave the wet pan on a burner that you have just turned off and let it sit until it's completely dry.

If by chance, you scrub a little too hard and see a bit of shiny metal showing through your  seasoning, just repeat the seasoning process above (yay, more crispy bacon!).

The only negative about cast iron is the weight; the 10" skilled I use weighs over 4# when empty. I store mine either on the stovetop or in the oven since I use it every day.

Many years ago, my husband and I visited my 85 year old grandma at her home in Longview, Washington. When we arrived, she had prepared a crispy pork roast in her 60+ year old cast iron dutch oven. "I'm not much of a cook" she said, as we sat down to her meal, but I can assure you, that pork roast was good!

Here are a few or my favorite cast iron pan recipes:

Apple Pancake

Salted Caramel Sauce

Chicken Fajitas

Steak and potato salad (bonus, use up your leftovers!)

Not sure about your family, but at my house, there is a huge workshop full of tools. There are at least 10 types of saws alone, myriad toolboxes large and small, fleets of wrenches in both English and metric, and boxes and boxes of nails and screws, each one with a special job to do (although somehow there is always a need for one more). It is like a small hardware store down there.

In the kitchen however, I have a high standard for new tools. Each must either replace an existing tool or do multiple jobs very well. However, there are some tools that are so good at one job alone that I am willing to buy them, store them, clean them and otherwise fully embrace their existence. In fact, I'm beyond embracing these tools, I'm ready to proselytize - to share with the world how great they really are.

To provide context, while I am not a minimalist, I do believe that every single possession we bring into our lives lays a tiny claim on us - to use it, clean it and repair it. To find it when we want it, and put it away when we are done. So it's somewhat embarrassing to own these one trick ponies. But when you see what they can do, you will understand how they have worn down my defenses against excess "stuff".

To begin, the world's best inexpensive apple peeler, made by Starfrit. Using six of this cool tool, retailing for around $20, a half-dozen middle school kids peeled 12 bushels of apples for an apple pie fundraiser at my church...in under two hours! Twelve bushels people, that is over 575 pounds of apples!!

Next, a mandolin that I have used daily for nearly 10 years without ever sharpening the blade. The insert reverses to quickly change the thickness of each slice, and it comes with inserts to julienne fruits and veggies as well. Google "Borner V-slicer" to find this on-line, where you can purchase it for about $40; including a sturdy case.

And finally, a tiny strawberry huller that also removes the stems from tomatoes. For a mere $7, the Chef'n strawberry huller can be yours!

If you want to restock your kitchen's toolkit, these can all be purchased at Amazon.com, or at many well-stocked kitchen stores. Enjoy feathering your nest!