Baking Cookies

I am famous amongst my family and friends for my inability to cook. For those who don't know me, you may think I *could* cook if I really tried, but my friends and family know that I truly am a hopeless case when it comes to whipping up something on the stove.

That being said, I can bake with the best of them. I love baking and find it very relaxing. One of my fondest memories of childhood is baking with my mom (Hi, Mom!). Jim remembers the same with his mom, so I make an effort to bake with the kids a few times a month. Today was baking day.

We tried out a new recipe today: Nestle's White Chip Chocolate Cookies. The kids have never used baking cocoa before, so they insisted on tasting it even though I told them it was bitter. Jack said "It YUCKY mama!" Lily claimed it tasted sweet to her and tried to get Jack to taste it some more. Very sneaky, but he didn't fall for her trick. I think the initial taste was once too often for him!

I let them dump some of the dry ingredients into the bowl, and they take turns mixing them together with a whisk. We all get to taste the batter when it's done. Jack licks the beater and Lily licks the rubber spatula. (For those of you who worry about them eating raw eggs, all I can say is that my brother and I licked the spoons when we were little and we're still here, so how bad can it be?) Sometimes they help me spoon the cookies onto the sheet, but today they were too busy licking to help out. When I handed him the spoon, Jack said nervously "It still yucky, mama?" before he tasted it!

After I put the cookies in to bake, I told the kids to play in the playroom until the first batch was done and cooled, and then we would have a cookie and a glass of milk for snack. Lily went downstairs with Jack. A few minutes later, Jack came back into the kitchen.

"It ready now, mama?" "No." He went to play in his room. For about 15 seconds. I heard his little bare feet trotting across the dining room. "It ready NOW, mama?" "Nope, I let you know. Go play in your room." He disappeared for another 15 seconds and then I heard his footsteps again. "It ready NOW, mama?"

We repeated this scene 10 times. I know this because I counted. Boy loves his chocolate cookies!

When they came out of the oven, I noticed they didn't flatten out like Toll House cookies do. They were still lumpy little piles of dough, except that, having baked, they resembled steaming piles of turd with small white chunks. They did not look appetizing at all. The kids didn't notice and ate them anyway. They actually taste pretty good, if you can get past how they look.