The Small Press Expo was this weekend outside DC. Lots of web comic artists that I like were there, several of whom I talk to on twitter some times. Several weeks ago via the twits I asked Dave Shabet, the artist who writes/draws Dead Winter, what kind of cookies he thought comic artists like, and he suggested thick chewy chocolate chunk cookies. These cookies didn’t turn out as thick as I’d hoped, but were otherwise grand and well received by everyone I threw a bag of cookies at.

Jon's friend Brad got the Dead Winter book, and asked for a robot in it.

Ingredients:

• 340 grams unsalted butter (12 ounces) =3 sticks
• 200 grams granulated sugar (7 ounces) = 1 cup
• 400 grams brown sugar (14 ounces) = 2 very, very tightly packed cups light brown sugar
• 21 ounces flour (4 2/3 cup)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon coarse type kosher salt or 1/2 tablespoon Morton’s Kosher salt (Apparently it’s not that hugely grained, for a kosher salt? The more times you see Kosher in a row, the less it looks like a word. Kosher Kosher Kosher )
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 21 ounces good quality chocolate chopped into chunks

Whole Foods (oh god I felt like a yuppie locking my bike up outside Whole Foods) had this Icelandic chocolate that was delicious, and also the cheapest chocolate they had. Works for me!

I liked Iceland already after last summer's trip, but now...ready to move!

Melt the butter (nuking it for a minute should do), then let it cool slightly while you measure out the next few things. Beat the sugars into the butter.

400 grams of brown sugar is a nice little mountain.

Add the eggs, beating after each addition.

Let me pause a moment to tell you that as I sit here writing this, I am watching a movie with my roommates where Jason Statham is both on fire and punching a man. WHAT. This is the worst thing.

Ok, onwards.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, then beat into the batter.

Fold in the chocolate chunks with a spoon or spatula.

If you’ve got time, chill the dough for several hours, or preferably overnight, to help prevent the cookies from spreading as they bake. Bummer now, but it’ll be worth it tomorrow.

When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 325 degrees. Scoop the dough into some pretty large balls, and space them widely.

Bigger than a golf ball, smaller than a...baseball? I don't know, I don't do sports.

Bake the cookies for 14 minutes or until golden brown.

This was the first batch. I had left the chocolate chunks too huge to spread with the dough, but broke it up more in later batches.

I think they may have stayed puffier if I had baked then another minute or two? They were towards the underdone side, but in a tasty way.

This made a goodly pile of cookies, and, as I said, was delicious. Packed them up in baggies and handed them to all the artists at SPX whose comics I read. Good deal!

SPX itself was fun. The guy in charge of volunteers was cool, the cash register only had 3 buttons I had to know how to use, and there were tons of artists I’d never heard of to check out. Although, that’s not entirely great, because then you’d see something with an interesting name, flip through it and realize you don’t actually care, then put it back and try not to make eye contact because, oh god, you’re judging someone’s art/baby/job. Might as well just go kick puppies, in terms of feeling good about yourself. Oh well… I also ran into friends!

The only people I took a picture of at the thing were the people I already see all the time. Reasonable.

And, since I had about 4 inches of clear wall space left to fill up, I got 2 prints and a poster, plus a Noncanon book which I got drawn on.

I am incapable of answering "What do you want?" with anything other than PONY.

Not a bad way to kill a Saturday!

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Adapted from Top Chef, via Cookie Madness.

• 340 grams unsalted butter (12 ounces) =3 sticks
• 200 grams granulated sugar (7 ounces) = 1 cup
• 400 grams brown sugar (14 ounces) = 2 very, very tightly packed cups light brown sugar
• 21 ounces flour (4 2/3 cup)
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon coarse type Kosher salt 1/2 tablespoon Morton’s kosher
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 21 ounces good quality chocolate chopped into chunks

Melt butter, cool slightly. Mix sugars into the melted butter. Add the eggs, beating after each addition.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt, then blend into the sugar mixture. Fold in the chocolate.

Chill the dough, then preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown.