This blog is co-written by Alecia Lindsay and Shelly Le. Photography by Alecia Lindsay.

Warm, gooey, crunchy, and a slight hint of salt––there’s simply no better way to start our first foray into food blogging than with a try at chocolate chip cookies. While I’ll admit to still having a special place in my heart for the crisp baked chocolate chip cookie that you get from a roll of store-bought cookie dough, a homemade batter simply makes my heart soar. But of course alongside making homemade chocolate chip cookies must be the great memories that are made during this process and this is what makes us so excited to have “Le Lovely Kitchen.”

Alecia and I met during the first day of freshman orientation and I instantly took a liking to her. Since then, we’ve been roommates, I tried to rope her in as a production associate for The Pio, Alecia got married to the love of her life, and I took over as EIC on this part of the ranch. Here we are, four years later, baking, cooking, and photographing our creations and I couldn’t be happier starting my first food blog with anyone else. If you’re curious, our blog name is a combination of my last name and Alecia’s middle name Ai, which in English stands for “love.”

Alecia will be doing the majority of the photography (She’s a real professional photographer, check out her portfolio!) and I will be attempting to not set my microwave on fire (Fun fact, I’ve set food on fire more times in my microwave than anywhere else in my kitchen!). All jokes aside, this blog isn’t meant to offer new or inventive spins on recipes, instead, I hope to recreate some of the dishes that I find interesting or that I’ve tried before and love, as well as document some of the great kitchen memories Alecia and I will undoubtedly be having this semester. Follow us on our journey and check out some of the great photos Alecia will be taking!

Recipe from Not Without Salt

Makes about five dozen

2 sticks butter (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup turbinado sugar

1 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs, large

2 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1 vanilla bean pod because I didn’t have any vanilla extract)

3 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 lb. chocolate (Ashley from Not Without Salt suggests using high quality chocolate to achieve a more gooey-chocolate-y taste, but I only had chocolate chips in my cupboard) use the best quality chocolate you can afford.

1/2 teaspoon salt, for sprinkling on top before baking (I used sea salt)

Set the oven at 360 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugars until very light and fluffy. I creamed this by hand since I don’t have a mixer, but feel free to break out the fancy Kitchen Aid that I wish I had. Add the eggs one at a time as you mix, add the vanilla, and set the bowl aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the large bowl without over mixing (or use that fancy Kitchen Aid of yours). Add in the chocolate.

Form small balls of dough on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

For Alecia’s personal photo blog, check out her website or her Facebook.