Some days, my daughter eats a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast.
You mothers out there may find this concerning or even a smidge threatening, since, now that I’ve broadcast this secret to the masses, the Mother of the Year award is already as good as mine. Make room in the trophy cabinet.
It all began with these amazing cookies that my husband started to make. If he had offered me one on our first date, our courtship would have been much shorter.
Not that he got it exactly right on his first attempt with a mixer and dough: the flour covering the kitchen floor would attest to that. No, these cookies have been an investment, something that he has worked on and perfected over time. Initially, he used pre-tested recipes from people who might have the best job in the world—they work at America’s Test Kitchen and spend their days making and tasting cookies to determine which recipe tops the list. And they do things like drink wine in an effort to identify the best aerators. Sounds rough. Sign me up.
But he added, amended, tweaked the cookies, so that they are just right at our high altitude (nearly 7000 feet, which makes baking a challenge), and supplemented the recipe with various ingredients to meet our particular cravings. A recent favorite has been the addition of Trader Joe’s Dried Tart Montmorency Cherries. How tart and wonderful they are.
Recently, said cookies have become an object of contention in my house. If this doesn’t make sense to you, then clearly you are not living with a two-year old. You would be forgiven for not understanding that something made of chocolate chips, butter, and walnuts (and sometimes cherries) could become a battle ground of sorts.
