Cookies

So I realized this morning while making lunches, that I had nothing for desert. Cold, dark, dreary November day- perfect for making cookies. I opted for chocolate- chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, thinking that the little bit of protein added by the oatmeal would be a good thing, and help me pack some in lunches without feeling guilty. Now this is a about a 180 degree turn from the Halloween cookies I made 10 days ago, which were almond flavoured sugar roll outs, with icing. Sugar. And lots of it. And exceptionally tasty, thanks to the brainstorm of swapping almond extract for vanilla and the usage of a new icing recipe. Yum and yum. Baking has always been my strong suit, and my favourite type of cooking. Period. I used to bake all the time- to the point of baking all the bread we consumed, plus cakes and frosting from scratch, souffles, bagels, donuts, cinnamon rolls, pizza and multitudes of cookie variants. But then I had kids, and a full time job plus a part time job, and I got to the point where I made cookies in the winter, birthday cakes and cupcakes, and maybe cinnamon rolls on Christmas. The only thing I really still make with regularity is pizza. And that? I really only make the dough and Mikey makes and bakes the actual pie. But the crust is freakin' awesome, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, when the kids got home from school Stella was soooo excited that I made cookies! "You NEVER make cookies. These cookies are soooo good. You should make cookies more often". I had to remind her that in the 7 years she's been in school that at least half of the time, she's brought cookies I made in her lunch box, AND that I had just made cookies less than 2 weeks before. Didn't she remember? The kids cut them out and frosted them (and the chair, table, THEMSELVES!)? Oh yeah, Right. Meanwhile, I had explained that I used 2 types of chocolate in them. So I hand Claire a cookie. She takes a bite, and then says "MMMMMMM!!!" Another bite. Then she asks for the other kind of cookie. I tell her there is one kind of cookie, but again that I used 2 kinds of chocolate. She asks for milk, finishes the cookie and then asks for another cookie, but with the other chocolate. I tried again,. I showed her the cookies- and that there was only one kind. She wasn't having it. She did eventually take a second cookie, but I think she really thought I was hiding the other cookies from her.

All this really just reminded me that before I spent 60 hours a week working, that I used to have time for enjoyable and useful pursuits like baking. If only these kids didn't need to eat, I could work less and have time to bake yummy things to eat. {{sigh}}