cookies and my favorite author

I spent a bunch of time today making mini corn muffins and The WORST Chocolate Chip Cookies for my sons’ pot lucks at school tomorrow.

look at these cookies

aren’t they terrible looking?

As you can guess, they’re actually very delicious. That is fortunate, because school has been canceled tomorrow due to the impending apocalypse.

i live in that purple blobby bit over San Jose

To escape from thinking about the apocalypse, I went to see Neil Gaiman speak at Stanford.

my fave

Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. I have been to many of his readings, signings, and speaking engagements since 2001 when I saw him read from American Gods. He never fails to delight and entertain. He read us a story about wildfires, read a section of Good Omens, answered some audience questions, and let us all know that what he believes in is empathy and leaving the world a better place than when you turned up.

Also, he compared writing Norse Mythology to knitting. He said writing it was his knitting, like how knitters knit between things and in the end they have a sweater.

Funny he should mention knitting, because that was what I was doing while I listened. I got a couple inches of sleeve done. I am making good progress.

just the sleeve, but the rest of the sweater was there on my lap

Maybe that can be my project for our “smoke day” tomorrow: finishing this sleeve!

 

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NaBloPoMo Day 30: the home stretch… with cookies

It’s the end of November! Thank goodness! Not to wish my time away but posting every day was kind of getting to me. Was it obvious?

You don’t have to answer that.

By way of apology for having little to say for so many days in a row, here is my awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe. Enjoy!

Commisary Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup sweet butter
2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup flower
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cup rolled oats
18 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I never put these in)

Beat sugars and butter until smooth and fluffy; add eggs, milk and vanilla. Combine flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, gradually beat into butter. By hand, stir in oats, chips and chopped nuts. Batter may be dropped onto baking sheet, but, for fatter cookies, chill the dough and roll into balls the size of table tennis balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake at 350 about 12 minutes.

(I tend to chill the dough but still make smaller cookies. I like the smaller size but they’re chewier if you chill the dough.)

Makes about 4 dozen

copycat cookies

7/11/07

I posted a picture of copycat cookies in my Flickr account and Chikn with Stix asked what a copycat cookie is, so here they are!

They're a copycat of a Mrs. Fields cookie, according to the recipe in my newspaper this week. I made half the recipe, left out the nuts (so Stefan could have one) and the grated Hershey's bar (since I didn't have it) and used Rapadura in place of the brown sugar, because that's what I had. They are incredibly good. Next time I make them I am going to try replacing half of the flour with whole wheat too.

Copycat cookies

Makes 112

2 cups (1 pound) butter

2 cups sugar

2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups flour

5 cups oatmeal, measured then finely ground in a blender

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

24 ounces chocolate chips

8-ounce Hershey's chocolate bar, grated

3 cups chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars and add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix dry ingredients with creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips, grated candy bar and nuts. Drop golf ball-sized balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for eight to 10 minutes.

Many Home Plates readers

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