Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Mah-velous!

It's snowing again this afternoon. I say again, because we've had a very snowy week. One of my favorite things to do when it's snowing is to bake cookies, so Abbey and I decided to bake a batch of chocolate chip together. It started out fine, but she quickly decided she'd rather lay on her tummy and ride Will's skateboard across the kitchen and I ended up doing all the work.

We've lived in Colorado four years now and in that time I've never baked a decent batch of chocolate chip cookies. Not one. Oh, they're edible, but they turn out flatter than pancakes, in large part due to altitude. I've adjusted my recipe countless times, but even with adjustments my cookies still turn out flat. Until today.

A couple of weeks ago, while reading Barb's blog she posted about her similar chocolate chip cookie woes, and one of her readers responded and gave her this recipe. Oh my goodness! For the first time in 4+ years my cookies look like this. I've pulled dozen after beautiful, fluffy dozen out of my oven this afternoon. So, so happy about that!



Abbey said they were yummy, and I'll have to get Will and Sarah's verdict after school. And John's verdict after dinner tonight. I haven't tried one because of that weird not liking chocolate quirk I have. But they sure do look and smell mah-velous!.

I think the secret to this recipe is more flour, more vanilla, and Crisco. (If you think I'm weird about chocolate, don't even get me started on Crisco. Ugh.)

Here's a photo of my little helper taste-tester. I would have taken a photo of her on the skateboard, but then you would have seen how badly my kitchen floor needs mopping. And I'm convinced that baking cookies was a much wiser choice than mopping this afternoon.



Thank you, Barb! This recipe is a keeper!!!

10 comments:

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Judging from the looks of my kitchen floor you'd think that getting a root can without painkillers would be above mopping the floor on my list of things I like to do.

The cookies look great. I'm not wild about chocolate myself, but I do occasionally get a craving for hot chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven with a big glass of cold milk. Yum!

Snow....sigh. It's still 50F here today even after the storms and cold front blasted through yesterday. Dadgummit!

No damage here in Bay but Jonesboro had some trees down on houses and a business on Gee Street was destroyed by either straight line winds or a small tornado. The National Weather Service in Memphis was supposed to send out some surveyors today to look at it.

Barb said...

I don't think your aversion to chocolate is weird - I don't like chocolate either. I make these cookies for my family because I'm they all love chocolate.

I was tickled pink with this recipe. I tried for years to solve the mystery and you're right - it's got to be the increased flour and the Crisco.

Baking cookies on a snowy day is definitely better than mopping. Baking cookies on ANY day is better than mopping. LOL

Anonymous said...

Way too funny - I do not have your altitude issues, however I was having flat cookie issues that were really bumming me out. I -always- made good choc chip cookies... for years... and then flat. I realized in Dec that it was my substitution of all butter vs. butter & Crisco that was the problem. And get this, when I followed your link to the other blog's recipe, it is the same as mine minus about 1/4 cup of flour. This recipe makes very good cookies. My mom made them with this recipe when I was growing up. Btw, so very great to see you over the weekend! Jen

Kelly said...

Not liking chocolate? Oh that is a crime! :-) I wish I didn't.
I wouldn't have thought about the troubles you must have cooking in CO.

Deidre said...

I have to try that recipe Barb posted. I've been meaning to. I just need the snow to go with it, which unfortunately isn't happening around here anytime soon.

Stephanie Kay said...

I don't have altitude as an excuse for my mediocre cookies. I think this year I accepted the fact that I am not a baker. I just hate the exactness of it.

Gretchen said...

The cookies and the Sweet :) look wonderful!

My grandma lived with my mom and me for many years in CO--she moved out from Iowa, and she always complained that you could never get food onto the table while it was still hot. It's funny what you get used to, because my mom and I never noticed that the food wasn't hot.

*carrie* said...

Mer,

I'll have to share this recipe with my mom. Though she must already have a pretty good one, because I remember always loving her cookies!

Regular, with half and half and raw sugar said...

Wish I were there to have a cookie and some coffe with you!!!

Mid-Life Mother said...

Chocolate Chip Cookies and a snowy day. . .what could be better than that?!