Dear Girl (that sat next to me on the plane last night),
Hi. How are you? This is just a quick note to let you know that you sat on my glasses. I know that you know that you sat on my glasses. You did, after all, hand them back to me crazy mangled. I trust that you know what shape glasses generally assume.
I understand that there are two active parties in this tragedy. There’s the person that accidentally left her glasses in the middle seat next to her while she properly stowed her purse under the seat in from of her…. that’s me. There’s also the person that was in such a hurry to get into that second row middle seat, that didn’t let the girl with the glasses on the aisle properly acclimate before barging in… that’s you. So, you sat on my glasses.
My favorite part about you sitting on my glasses, was how you showed exactly zero remorse for the damage you caused. That was awesome. Hey… remember that part when I was very obviously trying to bend them back in shape in front of you? Yea… that was pretty fun too. That was me being passive aggressive. I bet that was your favorite part.
Oh well, they’re just glasses, right? Next time, I’ll watch where I put my glasses if you watch where you put your body. Deal?
Sincerely,
Joy
And now… dark chocolate cookies. Let’s do this.
I love big, soft, brownie-like cookies. These are them. Hot dang they’re satisfying. Get your hands on some good chocolate for these beauties. I used a Valrhona 70% chocolate. When it comes to mix-ins, I went for walnuts and golden raisins. Maybe you want to try dried cherries and white chocolate, or pecans and walnuts, or chocolate chunks and dried apricot. Dream it up and go nuts. Thanks for the Twitter inspiration on these Roberta!
Dark Chocolate, Walnut and Golden Raisin Cookies
adapted from King Arthur somewhere
8 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate , 60%-72%(chopped or in chips)
3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup golden raisins
In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir until all the chocolate melts.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the melted chocolate mixture, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins, if you’
re using them.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.
Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonful (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2? between the dough balls, as they’
ll spread as they bake.
Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’
re done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven. Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
{ 80 comments… read them below or add one }
Well the cookies look divine – can’t wait to try them out.
As for the big butt who mangled your glasses, you are a bigger woman than me. I’d have been thrown off the plan taking my seat mate with me! Better yet, get a pair of cheapo’s just for plane reading!
well it goes without saying that that really sucks! i hope you made sure to passive aggressively take up waaaay too much room and make her journey a little more uncomfortable. at least that’s what i would have done, but then again, i guess i’m a little bit bitter.
you’re cookies, however, look splendid as always. and i must give you props for that remarkable balancing act in the first picture! high five!
I can’t stop laughing. You are awesome. That is all.
Seriously fudgy looking cookies! I love the outer layer that looks thin and crackly. I always find that to be a sign of something soft and gooey on the inside.
Now wait a minute, no remorse? Not even an I’m sorry? Wow, amazing.
I seriously feel your pain about your irritation with the woman who mangled your glasses. I’m 29, and I still harbor a minor grudge for the woman who spilled her Sprite on my favorite teddy bear when I was 9 and flying from Arizona to Alabama for Space Camp. Yes, I am still bitter, and yes, the bear (despite my uncle’s best attempts to clean him) still bears the scars.
On the other hand, maybe a batch of those amazing cookies up there will help me to deal with the lingering pain. ;)
What a B that girl was!! PS… I tweeted you a question about your grapefruit yogurt cake.
These look delicious! I love cookies that are a bit brownie-like as well.
Those cookies look AMAZING! I love raisins and nuts with chocolate – reminds me of those yummy Chunky bars from childhood. :) And great story about the woman sitting on your glasses – people are so amazingly unself-aware sometimes.
p.s. I think I’m going to make your brown sugar-bacon waffles tomorrow a.m.!
people today are so inconsiderate. you should have ‘accidently’ spilled a drink on her.
the cookies look good. i may need to try these – maybe some almonds and dried cherries. . . oh maybe almonds and coconut. . . oh yeah
Ha great story Joy! It happens to the best of us.
You gotta love mingling with the unwashed public. Sigh.
These cookies look great. They remind me of a cookie my mom used to make that she called chocolate nut drops. They, of course, contained nuts and not raisins.
I just have to say I love your random outbursts. No need to try to tie chocolate cookies and broken glasses together with some loose transition in the post; they’re both entertaining, so kudos, keep ‘er going.
So what do you do with all the baked goods? Do you have a bake shop? Do you give them away? Who gets the goods? You can’t possibly consume all this deliciousness (although it would be devilishly fun to try!).
Very well written…and very well baked! You’ve got me craving chocolate brownie cookies….thanks for sharing!
Sorry about your glasses. Great letter though!
And the cookies, whoa–just printed recipe. Must make soon!
Beautiful cookies! It is definitely sucky that the girl on the plane broke your glasses.
Man, don’t you hate when people are like that. Sometimes I get tired of being the nice person that lets it all go, sometimes I want to shake and scream at the person in the grocery store, that parks the buggy, then stands beside it, blocking the entire aisle. So you stand there patiently tapping your foot while they pretend not to see you. Sorry about your glasses.
I hope she reads this and burns her cookies.
Did I tell you about that time I went on a class whale watching trip in 6th grade and ten minutes into the trip that one girl, we’ll call her Kim, thought it was funny to say, “Look! A whale!” (even though she didn’t see one), and as I spun around to look, her wildly gesturing hand knocked my brand new (two days old) glasses off my face and into the ocean? Did I mention that I spent the entire day down in the galley sobbing because I was certain my lost glasses meant certain death when my mom found out? Oh wait, you don’t know me. I’ve already said too much.
The fudgy, brownie-like cookie looks divine.
Why, oh why did I have to start reading your blog and nearly simultaneously make a pact with my husband that we won’t eat sugar? These look irresistible. But I will. Resist. For a week or so. Maybe.
Joy, I love you. Seriously awesome post.
love the passive-aggressive bending back into shape of the glasses. I totally would’ve done that too lol.
Yummy..found you looking for coco recipes …Wow…cute site too.
I’m afraid the passive aggresisive glasses bending probably went right over this person’s head. I have no doubt she felt entitled to sit on your glasses and not apologize because they were on HER seat. You obviously don’t understand that SHE is the only one who matters in this situation. Heck, she probably thoght you should be apologizing to her…
These cookies look positively amazing.
I was on a flight a couple weeks ago and was stowing my bag in the overhead compartment. Of course I needed to rearrange some of the bags already there to fit mine in. The woman I was going to be sitting next to actually said “Please don’t touch my bag”…….? Really? What really bugged me was her tone of voice which truly suggested I was doing something I shouldn’t be. I said to her, “You must be joking” and carried on shuffling bags. Anyway, just another tale of airplane rudeness.
P.S. the cookies look amazing! I’m on vacation right now in a house with only the essentials, will cook on return home :)
Hi Joy! I just had to say I found your site from the Times, and had to see! You’re fantastic and I can’t wait to try out these cookies :)
With a huge hug all the way from New Zealand,
cc
Awww, I’m so sorry to hear about your glasses :( She should have at least apologized profusely, even if maybe she couldn’t afford to offer to pay for them. The cookies look amazing, though!
basic politeness is dying out -
i work in retail and see it every day.
i am learning the art of ‘holding my tongue’.
it’s a seriously challenging, PAINFUL, art – let me tell you!
i love the way you write, Joy.
just saying.
the cookies look absolutely decadent, i was searching for something to bake for school lunches tomorrow, and i’ve just found it!
What inconsideration (is that a word?). I had a roommate once who sat on my glasses and broke them. While I was living in Ecuador……. far, far away from an eye doctor. No Lens Crafters in Quito, I was pretty SOL.
Lovely, lovely cookies. I am into everything dark and chocolately, but am slightly raisin-adverse. Loved the idea of white chocolate and dried cherries, though!! I just might have to go that route.
LOVE the passive aggressive response. seriously, some people just…well, they just confuse me. not even a sorry? how is that possible?
cookies look really yummy, love the golden raisin addition, added chewiness!
LOL, great letter!
Delicious looking cookies! Have to try these!
You approached the situation very well, some people are just rude.
-__-
I’m sorry to hear about the rude person. The lack of remorse/concern would be far more upsetting to me than the mangled glasses. (I’m beating it into the heads of my children, and it’s taking years, but it will take. Say you are sorry and mean it! It does’t matter if it’s an accident or on purpose. It doesn’t even matter if you were the culprit or not. Expressing sympathy, showing regret that something unhappy has happened to another person, being remorseful for your part in it…Those all go such a long way in fixing the situation!)
On a happier note, I just finished reading a story involving cookies that had dark chocolate and raisins. Thinking about how good those might be, I popped over to see what you were up to, and find that you have been making chocolate and raisin cookies! And now, so shall I! Thanks, Joy!
I’m sorry to hear about your glasses, but my G-d, those beautiful cookies would make up for almost anything!!! Almost……maybe. :o)
I’m sorry that, that girl sat on your glasses and wasn’t even apologetic about it. Its kinda sad how many inconsiderate people there are these days. I commend you on being the calm person that you seem to have been, considering the situation, and not wanting to fling her off the plane, lol.
Those cookies look phenomenal! I love brownie-like cookies and ya just can’t beat a brownie and cookie all in one.
sorry about your glasses. these cookies look like a great way to make yourself feel better, though! what a delicious combination.
As a fellow glasses-wearer and traveller, I feel your pain. Please tell me, at the very least (in addition to you bending of your glasses), did you at least SOMEHOW (directly or indirectly) let her know about your blog? LOL I DEFINITELY would have. LOL Maybe, by a small chance that she might have come compassion in her, she might actually feel bad reading this…and look the next time she decides to put her butt somewhere.
On a nicer note…the cookies look sinful. Not too big on the raisins on the inside (I just got to adding nuts to my brownies), but I am sure I can find some other add-ins…maybe something with peppermint.
Oh gosh, these look fabulous! I have been meaning to make chocolate cookies (never have) and these look just perfect!
(I’m sorry about your glasses :( )
cookies are too chocolately for me, but i LOVED your letter. i always love your letters!!
Did you “accidently” spill your drink on her? Because you so should have.
Hi Joy,
Thanks for the recipe! They looked so divine I just had to make them right away!
but something weird: my cookies never cracked so I couldn’t tell when they were done. I left them in almost 20 minutes and nothing. They still came out delicious (I used cherries and walnuts!), but the texture is interesting..
Do you have any ideas why mine did not crack?
I did do one thing I don’t normally do I put all the dry ingredients in one bowl and then dumped that into the egg, sugar, choc, butter mixture, but I confess I didn’t mix the dry ingredients together (ha..I’m a newbie and I didn’t think it was that important I would mix it all together in the end). Do you think that might have been it?
I just found your site and i love it! Thanks for all the great recipes!
Sorry about the glasses :-( But the cookies rocked my world! I just made them… with salty roasted almonds instead of the walnuts/raisins. Delicious!!
These look awesome. I would love to try them with some tart dried cherries.
or with dried ginger pieces? yum.
Hey Joy, I think you were WAY TOO nice in your letter! I’d be soooooo angry if someone sat on my glasses and totally mangled them. I am happy that you had to re-bend your glasses in front of her. Hope she felt guilty!
Not that you would offer her any, but she definitely doesn’t deserve cookies like these if she ever had the chance. Great work! x
I would have pretended to snore incredibly loudly the whole journey. After all you would otherwise have read to keep yourself awake except your goggles got broke by a lady sitting next to you! Great cookies Joy.
People are so disrespectful. Anyway, another boring day at work dreaming about having a big kitchen and a big oven to make these cookies. They look decadent and yummy!
The cookies look amazing!
I’m sorry to hear about what happened to you on the plane. I live in a large and rapidly growing city with a predominantly young population and disrespect seems to be the fashion of the day around here. So, my heart-felt sympathies go out to you.
I suspect, though, that you did the right thing because, frankly, if that woman was narcissistic enough to not issue a simple “I’m sorry” who knows what she would have done if confronted with the reality of her own poor behavior? Well handled Joy!
so sorry to hear about your glasses, but way to go on the passive-aggressive move! i would have just been all out aggressive.
the cookies look divine! may i ask what the espresso powder does? i don’t drink coffee (its yucky), so how essential is this ingredient?
and just because i’d like to share my story…. united now has their flight attendants going down the aisle with cups and a water bottle, which i think is a great service. so while i’m holding my cup and the guy is pouring away, the plane has a little hic-up or maybe one of us did, in any case, the girl sitting next to me got watered. i was all “ohmigosh so sorry” and handed her a napkin, while the flight attendant said “its just water.” the girl was cool about it, but if that had been me i would have had a few choice words for that way too laid back flight attendant.
Yum, yum, yum! Anything dark chocolate automatically makes my mouth water. And, I’m so sorry about your glasses. If it makes you feel any better, once on a red-eye from LA to NY, this woman sitting in front of me somehow spilled her coffee all over me and my laptop. Ugh….
I wish you could have slowly nibbled on many of those fudgy cookies right in front of the glasses breaking girl, then finished up the last cookie and licked your fingers with a sigh of satisfaction.
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