Currently in February
When our son's family's home didn't have their power restored as quickly, and their house was at 48 degrees, we told them to come on over for an impromptu get together. We ate whatever was on hand, did a couple of loads of laundry (we do three a week, they do two a day), and we baked a batch of The Butler's chocolate chip cookies, because there are days when you just need to stop and bake cookies.
Our daughter-in-love suggested we take a photo before they headed back to their home, and my son had a backpack on his back, so when I wrapped my hand around him it felt sort of lumpy but I just didn't give it much thought. Until he told me, "Mom, that's my bottom."
So of course I goosed him, and told him, "I've felt it a few times before." Then she snapped this photo.
And if you look closely, you'll see a little green snake on my shoulder, from a certain 9 year old who thought it was hysterical to put it in my bathtub and scare me.
It felt good to gut laugh at the end of our day.
Currently I'm drinking a lot of tea and cocoa because of the above-mentioned weather situation. The Keurig went on the blink, and I swear they do that way more often than they should. So this time I watched a Youtube video, and Cub Sweetheart helped me take it all apart and fix the problem. So we didn't throw this one away like we did the last one. Instead of replacing it, we fixed it for free and spent $50 on tea and cocoa.
I just finished knitting and sewing, for that beautiful new baby boy who was born this past week, named Finley. I sewed him a baby blanket out of minky, that fabric that is lusciously cozy feeling, and I knit him a hat with ears. Because every baby should have at least one hat with ears. (Pattern from Susan B Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats.) The photo looks sort of lavendar but it's actually a nice muted variances of gray.
Currently I'm knitting my first ever socks with a pattern on magic loop needles. My oldest daughter, who taught me to knit in 2007, sent me this yarn and this needle, and the sock has an issue or two, but not enough to go backwards, (they are after all socks, not a wedding gown), and I'm seeing that I much prefer this method to using double pointeds, where the stitches tend to fall off and not be noticed until rows and rows later.
Currently I'm reading Agatha Christie's 'A Pocket Full of Rye', my first ever of her Miss Marple series. I just finished 'Courting Mr. Lincoln' which was pretty good, not real heavy, but more of a take to the beach read, or curl up in winter read. I haven't checked out a thing from our local library since arriving in Texas two months ago, but rather am reading off my shelves, or downloading e-books to my paper white, or receiving books in the mail as a gift, which is awfully nice as well.
And finally, currently I'm baking up a storm. Bran muffins, pizza dough, and cookies and more cookies. Which Cub Sweetheart seems to have a high opinion of. As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, I decided we needed fresh chocolate chip cookies to help with redeeming the day. About 11 - 15 years ago I got a recipe from my friend, Becky, who lives in Florida. At the time she was blogging, and she referred to her husband as The Butler. He had this recipe for the most amazing chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten. It's a personal opinion but I feel like most CCC's lack body. They're sort of an ooze of dough with chocolate chips sticking up and some of you may prefer that. But I like my cookie to have some umph to it so I can justify calling it breakfast once in awhile. The Butler's were amazing. I went to look for my recipe but it was not there. So it may be in Idaho but it wasn't in my family cookbook collection. Oh no!
I decided that it was very teensily possible that I could find it on the web by referring to it as The Butler's CCC's, and sure enough it popped up in someone else's blog who had a link to my sister's blog from ten years ago, and within minutes I had a freshly printed out copy, and within an hour we were eating warm from the oven CCC's, the chips oozing over onto our fingers, before we even ate supper, and it definitely, 100%, without a doubt, made our day instantly better.
So for all of you, and for me to be able to find this recipe again if I ever misplace it, and my search of Butlers doesn't pan out, here's the recipe.
The (original recipe for the ) Butler’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 stick butter, softened but not melted
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla (yes, tablespoons)
3 1/4 cups flour (a full cup more than the recipe on the CC package calls for)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 12 ounce package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugars, eggs and vanilla with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients.
The batter will be stiff, and it should be. Just to make sure it is flavorful, you should try some of the dough, but not too much!
Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet (preferably a shiny sheet which gives better results).
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly before removing to a wire rack.
Yields about 5 dozen normal sized cookies, or 3 1/2 dozen ginormous cookies.
My notes: the butter works better if you leave it out at room temperature to soften, rather than using the microwave which tends to melt it very easily.
I use my stand mixer as this dough is very stiff. You could likely use a hand mixer as well. I’ve never tried to make it with just a wooden spoon, and the Butler likely has more strength in his hands and arms that I do :-)
I baked one sheet at a time using the middle rack and a Wilton insulated cookie sheet. But then, I have a tendency to burn things, so I take the safe route.
I removed mine to sheets of wax paper on the kitchen counter.
The smaller cookies baked well at 8 minutes. If you go big, they’ll need the full 10 minutes.
I used an OXO cookie scoop, sized large and it baked 2 1/2 cookies, but they’re more the size you’d buy at Panera.
So whatever you're up to today, whatever the weather, if you have a spare bag of chocolate chips in your cupboard, you might want to take an hour and whip these up. Deliver half of them to your neighbors with a ziploc of hot cocoa mix.
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