It’s a Thursday, and I’m on an airplane writing this 34,000 feet above that part of the US where I can probably name two states. This is probably the first Thursday in six months where I’m not wicked grumpy to be on a plane … because this time instead of eating Pinkberry alone while watching my PHL > BOS flight get delayed and delayed, I’m on a cross-country flight heading to Portland, Oregon for the Indulge Conference. My first food blogger conference and I’ve got one of my favorite friends Allie along for the adventure. The one thing I’m not used to are flights over 90 minutes, so I brought plenty of things to keep me entertained like a toddler on this flight. And proactively put this week’s baking photos on my laptop so that I could edit them and write a blog post to take up a few hours of this flight.

This is week 4 of no work travel and I am loving all the time I’ve had to cook and bake since I’ve been grounded from road warrior status for a month. I have been dabbling in all different kinds of cookie experiments lately, but this week I was in the mood to get back to the basics and find a new recipe for a salted chocolate chip cookie. My original favorite. Luckily, while perusing the interweb for inspiration last weekend I came across this bomb looking cookie on Foodie Crush for the Milk Bar’s Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie. I was sold when I read I didn’t even have to haul out the giant mixer and I could make this cookie with just a wooden spoon in a large mixing bowl. So I took advantage of the day off on Monday for the long weekend to whip up a batch of these treats.

The butter is melted in these, which means you don’t have to impatiently wait until it is softened (which I am never patient enough to do, and usually end up with some half melted buttery mess a la the microwave). Because of the melted butter, the cookies are bigger, but flat – which makes them soft and chewy, which is more my style than a thick crunchy cookie. I think these would make for a perfect summer dessert topped with some fresh vanilla bean ice cream. Or maybe the foundation for a solid ice cream sandwich. Yum.

Yield: About 15 cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and just warm to the touch
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons nonfat milk powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
• ¼ cup flaked salt

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to mix the sugars together and add in the melted butter. Stir vigorously for about a minute and then add in the egg and vanilla. Continue to mix until the batter gathers a glossy sheen – about one more minute.

Step 2: Sift together the flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet batter just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix until evenly incorporated. I substituted milk chocolate cookies this time around.

Step 3: Use a medium cookie scoop to place large scoops of dough onto a sil-pat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Leave about 2 or 3 inches in between the dough since they will spread. Top with a dash of salt. I fit about 8 cookies per sheet.

Step 4: Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown around the edges but still soft in the middle. Leave them on the tray for a few minutes to finish setting before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Just when you think the salted chocolate chip cookie is the best invention ever and nothing can top it … this cookie comes around. I don’t know exactly what the milk powder does, but dang is this a delicious cookie. It’s so soft and thin, and the salt adds the tiniest bit of crunch with such a pop of flavor. Simple to make, easy cleanup, huge crowd pleaser.

Since I’ve been home, the one thing my friends have really enjoyed is that I’ve been using them more as taste testers and shipping out batches of cookies weekly. This week’s cookie recipients were my brother + sister in law (and my future nephew) who just received them this afternoon in New York, so I’m still waiting for the full report. But I’m trying to make an extra good first impression on Baby Shaw before he enters the real world this summer, and what better way than with cookies? Next weekend is the baby shower down in Connecticut which I am really excited for …. and maybe have gone a tad overboard on shopping for baby clothes. But hey, my nephew is going to be the best looking kid in Park Slope.

So let’s see…only a few days recap to catch up on since my Guac post Saturday morning. By the way, what did you guys think of the non-cookie post .. yay? nay? impartial? Come on, gimme that feedback. Anyways, Saturday afternoon Skip and I went to the driving range in Brewster to wack the shiz out of some golf balls. Being a lady in bidness I feel like I should probably get somewhat decent at golf in case it ever comes up where I need to go fake it on the golf course. I mean, if we were talking MINI GOLF then I would be promoted to partner tomorrow. Because I spent my childhood training on the mini golf courses around the Cape. I can hit under par at Great Cape escape in Orleans and I’m not too shabby on the back course of Pirate’s Cove (the front course is child’s play…literally). If you also want to confident on the course, it’s extremely beneficial to first practice through gadgets like skytrak golf.

So anyways, Skip and I were doing a little father daughter bonding on the driving range. And I think I surprised him with my skill to hit the ball hard and far and straight (that’s the whole point of golf right?) Maybe it’s my hand-eye coordination from 25 years of playing tennis … or maybe it’s because I named a few golf balls after a few people and swung like there was no tomorrow.

Sunday morning Mom and I ran the 5k in Hyannis – our Memorial day tradition together for the past 5 years. I ran the half marathon my first year of participating in 2008 and wanted to die after, so now I stick mostly to 5ks because at least you know it’s going to be over in about a half hour.

And as a treat for burning those calories before 8am on a Sunday of a long weekend, we went to the Sundae School in Harwichport for the first ice cream cone of the summer. You know what they say … never skip Sundae School! This Coffee Oreo Frozen Yogurt totally hit the spot.

I headed back to Boston early Monday morning to beat the traffic and get a bunch of errands done and then continue my binge watch of Mad Men. It’s sick but in just 3 weeks I’m already almost done with Season 6. My motivation for quickly writing this post is so I can get back to watching the episodes I downloaded on my iPad for this flight. Tuesday night I took a long walk in the Boston heat around Castle Island with my friend Amanda. It was really windy which meant all of the kite surfers were out in the bay. 

Last night I grabbed some long overdue drinks + apps with my friends Stacie and Lauren, who have been trying to coordinate this reunion since January. So it was nice we were able to sit outside at the Met Bar Back Bay on Newbury Street and catch up and enjoy some cocktails (blood orange martini for the win) and lobstah cheese dip. Oh yeah.

And tonight I willingly headed to the airport without a fight on a Thursday night for the first time in months. I am SO excited to be going to my first food blogger conference in Portland, OR. I’ve been looking for an excuse to explore the Portland food scene for a long time now, so when I read about this conference back in January on one of the blogs I follow, I decided I needed to go. And even better, back in the winter after a few pitchers of Sangria the night my friend Allie asked me to be her bridesmaid, I brought up the conference, and she decided to come too! So now we’re headed cross country to embrace our inner foodie in PDX. Some of my favorite bloggers are going to be speaking at the conference on Saturday so I’m going to try to play it cool and not get all girl crush awkward on them, but no promises. I did get these super cute business cards made from Moo.com yesterday just in time for the conference.

I’m doing a big redesign to my blog this summer so was going to get a logo and cards made then, but this seemed like a good networking opportunity to legitimize myself so needed some sweet business cards to go with it, and they are great! Synergy!

So that’s it. Three hours left in the air, should give me a chance to finish Season 6 of Mad Men. Be sure to follow @thesaltedcookie on Instagram this weekend to catch all our Portland food adventures!