C is for Cookie (and you KNOW that's good enough for me!)

Another cooking post.

Specifically, another cook-ie post.

Cuz you know I'm all about the health.

I'm calling these simply "Chocolate Chunk Cookies."

I ate half the batch myself because I really support chunky cookies and I really support chunky pregnancies.

I jest. I fully support and sometimes even practice healthful and wholesome eating during pregnancy. That's probably why I ate so many, so there will be less of the buggars out there tempting you nice people. Takin' one for the team.

These come from a super secret special recipe, handed down to me from my great great great Cherokee grandmother who originally used corn meal and maple syrup that she tapped herself.

Just kidding! It's Nestle Tollhouse's classic chocolate chip recipe as found here:http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/Original-NESTL%C3%89-TOLL-HOUSE-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/detail.aspx

I know, I know, Nestle is evil, but I didn't use any of their products, just their recipe. (I actually used Milka chocolate, muahahaha!)

Actually, in all honesty, had I been State-side these babies probably woulda been made with a big ol' bag of Nestle semi-sweets. Can you believe that Kosovo doesn't have chocolate chips though? I know, I couldn't either. They do however have chocolate bars, which can be cut up into chunks, hence the name of the cookies.

So first off I turned the oven on and we got to work chopping chocolate.


Then it was the usual sugar, butter, vanilla routine. I only had a little bit of light brown sugar left, so I used up that, which was about a fourth a cup and then 1/2 a cup of dark brown sugar. Here's the contrast in color, the light is in the bowl, dark is in the bag, the picture doesn't show it very well, but I love the rich dark color of it.


Here's the brand I use (and I have no idea why my computer keeps flipping this picture sideways):


You can see it now darker in the bowl there. It's pretty. It also has a different flavor, but not bad, a little stronger and syrupy-er.

Then the vanilla. Vanilla here comes in these cute little bottles, see?


And the butter. Oh shoot, I only have half the butter I need! That's half a cup. I Google butter substitutes.
1) Applesauce. Oh, cool. Guess what else they don't have here? Yup, that's right. Next?
2) Oil. Yes, oil I have.
I add some oil. A little less than half a cup because it says in the article to use a little less oil than butter needed if that's what you're doing. (P.S. The oil made them really soft and moist -I think I might cut the butter with oil every time!)

Time for the the most exciting part of this process next to sneaking finger-fulls of dough behind your Mom's back and besides eating the actual cookies. The mixing. When cooking with children it is a requirement that everyone's hand be on the mixer at all times that said mixer is on.


Then goes in the eggs (more mixing) and the dry ingredients (more mixing) and the chocolate chunks (you know what goes here) and Voila! Time to spoon this glorious mixture onto the pan.


Another requirement of baking with kids is that as soon as the mixer is turned off, all children must pepper their Mother with "But why?"s and "How come?"s and "Just one taste?"s when instructed not to eat the batter, and also what IS salmonella? Did I make that up so I could have all the dough to myself? -Something I would never EVER do, by the way!

Phew! Ok, into the oven. This is the "baby" waiting for them to be done right after I told her we had to wait for them to cook. "Ok, pfine." She huffed.


Here is the finished product. We quite enjoyed them!


Somehow, one of my kids ended up naked this time around, too. Apparently childhood, baking cookies, and nudity all go hand-in-hand. I think it happened something like this -we were all sitting around waiting for the cookies to be done when the almost-two year old climbed up on a step-stool and yelled, "I see BIG tractor AND Jesus!"

Almost-two year olds are very insightful.

Then she toppled off her stool and after a short cry had to strip neckid' so she could show us exactly where she was hurt. If you've never had an almost-two year old, you should. You can see how it's kind of like living with an intoxicated philosophy professor. It keeps you grounded -or at least laughing.

So anyway, go bake cookies -with your kids even, if you're brave- but be better than me and make them with spelt flour and homemade organic applesauce. Or something like that.
Cheers.

Reading a story when you still have just one child, vs when you have three. Go.

Here's what it's like to read a story to your toddler when you still just have one kid:

"Goodnight Moon. In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon..." Continues thus until the end: "Goodnight noises, everywhere." The end! Snuggle snuggle, kiss kiss.

Here is what it's like to (try to) read a story to your toddler when you now have multiple children.

"Goo- wait, hunny, let Mommy help you with that- Ok, Goodnight Moon. In the great gree- Hey. You. Climb down from there please. What? No, you may not eat a spoon of sugar. Yes you did have a treat this morning, remember? Daddy brought you one. Get down please. Thank you. Now, In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon, and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon. -What? Oh, that's her udder, it's where the baby cow drinks milk from. I know there's no baby cow in this story -hey, let's see what happens next! There were three little bears, sit- Huh? I don't know where your toy seal is, hunny. Is it in your room?.. Did you take it into the bathroom? Oh good, ok, um... There were three little bears, sitting on chairs, and two little kittens, and a pair of mittens -What? No, I don't know where your seal's crown is." By this time, the toddler is rolling off your lap, trying to slam the book closed on your fingers going, "All done! All done! Now dis one!" Because you are boring her to death with this and she thinks maybe it's that particular book that was the problem. But don't worry, you have three kids so by now you've accumulated a huuuge stack of books to get through. :)
(Oh, and there's still plenty of time for snuggles and kisses, thank goodness!)