cheesy burgers and chocolate chippy cookies

anyone who knows me well, knows these cheese burgers. they are the ultimate comfort food to me. my dad would always make them for me as a kid and when i'd visit him on weekends it would be my only request (well not my only request, but it would be first). even when we were allowed to pick any restaurant we wanted to go out for birthday dinner i would choose to stay home and ask my mom to make them for me.

so last night it was awful weather and the boyfriend had hockey and boy was i hungry. solution: throw on my pjs, make these super cheesy delights, chocolate cookies and watch harry potter. perfection.

first thing's first. get yourself organized. at the bare minimum you will need ground beef (i always go for lean) hamburger buns (plain=better. the seedy fancy ones just don't work as well) then the toppings you want. i usually go for mayo, tomato and green olives.

then you would start by getting your beef into a medium sized pan (don't be confused by the picture above. one package of ground beef is enough but the store only had the tiniest amounts of meat in them... so i got 2! and also this way i was able to leave leftovers for when the boyfriend got home) and cook at medium/high heat.

break up the beef with a spatula and cook until it's all nice and brown. it will produce some liquidy grease so i just put the lid on the pan and dump most of it out. the cheese will melt funny if it's too soupy in there.

then lower the heat right down and put your cheese over the meat to melt it. i usually take the pan off the heat to do this to give it some time to get to the lower heat since i am very exact with my cheese placement. cover the pan to get the cheese to really melt into the meat. mmm... cheesssyy beeeefffnow for the buns. my clearly french canadian dad does it the best. he steams them. he has a metal colander and boils water and puts the buns in the colander. i have a plastic colander from the dollar store. so i wrap the buns in paper towel and microwave them for about 30 seconds. it's the closest thing i can get. then, scoop your beef onto your buns and top them as you please.

sooo gooood.

yummy yum yum. looking at these pictures is making me want to eat them all over again.

NOW! on to dessert!!!

there is something super rewarding about making things from scratch. cookie mix still makes delicious cookies but it's more impressive to be able to say you made it all yourself.

i swiped this recipe from my super fave food blogger, bakerella. (http://www.bakerella.com/)

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups chocolate chips

-preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-in a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk and set aside.
-with a mixer, beat butter and both sugars until well blended.
-beat in eggs and vanilla.
-add flour mixture in two additions until combined.
-stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.
-drop cookie dough on a parchment covered cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
-bake for 8-10 minutes. (mine took a while longer cuz my oven SUCKS. just keep an eye on them)

dry mix.

mmm sugary butter...

beat in the egg and vanilla. then mix in the dry with the wet in 2 parts.

when it's all nicely mixed together, stir in 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips.

scoop onto either a greased baking sheet or a sheet lined with parchment paper.

bake for 8-10 minutes (maybe in a new oven but mine took about 15-20.) about halfway through, take the cookies out and with the last 1/2 cup of chocolate chips sprinkle a couple on top so they look pretty. back in the oven they go until they are golden.

perfection.

thanks for the stacking rack mom!

what a perfect looking cookie, if i do say so myself!