I bake almost everything from scratch. I love finding new recipes and trying them out, changing them to suit my taste. Something about it is cathartic for me. It's kitchen meditation. The way you have to pay attention to what you're doing and get your measurements just right. It allows me to clear my head in a way that's only second to gardening.
Lately, I've been baking chocolate chip cookies. LOTS of chocolate chip cookies. I tried recipes that were labeled "the best" and blended them together, tweaked them in my own little kitchen science experiments and below is the recipe for, by far, THE BEST chocolate chip cookie I've ever made. And like I said, I made A LOT.
Magic ingredient! Hint: It's not Crisco