I’ve been searching for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe for ages, and last night as I tested another recipe, it spurred me to reflect on my writing process. (Keep scrolling for a peak at some incredible cookies)
There’s a few reasons I’ve been on the hunt for a perfect CCC recipe:
1. I love chocolate chip cookies (obvious)
2. My childhood family recipe is not my favorite (blasphemy against the sacred kitchen of my mother)
3. I’ve never felt like I’ve found exactly what I’m looking for in a cookie recipe (I’m picky, it’s fine)
Now how is this like searching for the perfect writing process, you ask? Let me explain.
1. I love writing (obvious)
2. The processes I’ve followed throughout my life needs to continue to evolve as I want to improve my craft (uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh curse you growth mindset)
3. What’s worked for me in the past won’t work for me now (starts to sing Changes by David Bowie)
Wow, look at that. It’s almost like art reflects art. And yes, baking is art and if you disagree you can talk to the 3521 pictures of baking and bakes in my camera roll.
I’m thrilled to say that the recipe I tested last night is my favorite one to date! Huzzah! The recipe was simple, included browned butter, and only had to chill in the fridge for two hours (fun fact: if your recipe doesn’t call for chilling your cookie dough, it’s likely due to a higher flour content that ensures your cookie will not spread too much in the baking process. This results in much chewier, cake-like cookies than those that require chilling.)
The cookies themselves turned out ~amazing~ in all the ways I wanted. They were crisp on the edges, soft in the middle, and had that distinct browned butter flavor that did not overpower but added to the unctuous bite.
Does this mean I will stop my search for the best cookie recipe? Probably not. But I’ll use this one till I want to find a different one!
Coincidentally, I recently landed on an outlining process that I will also use for the foreseeable future. Thanks to a friend (shout out to them bc they’re the reason I’m still writing today after years of pushing through the slog), I was introduced to the chiastic story structure.
Not to exaggerate, but it’s life-changing.
Maybe you knew about it already, maybe you didn’t, and maybe it’s not as helpful for you because you don’t need percentages to figure out where in the story different things should be happening! But for lil old me, it’s exactly what I was looking for right now. It clearly defines what should be happening when, and how to create a story with well-crafted foreshadowing and mirroring throughout.
So, here I am, admiring both incredible cookies and a story outline that I feel 100% confident in.