Frustrated? Have a Chocolate Chip Cookie

It’s spring and pouring down rain in Northeast Oklahoma, and I’m sitting here laughing as my ten month old grandson gets mad and frustrated, kind of like the rest of us over gas prices. By far the largest rip-off of the decade. The only thing that keeps me from totally loosing it over the gas price fiasco is having legitimate work from home. Now most people get as skeptical about legitimate work from home as they do over politician’s promises. I know I ranked among the skeptics, of course that was a given after being a police officer for thirty-one years. Yet now, I get to enjoy a humorous moment with a grandchild.

I also spend more time in the kitchen than the wife does, and I should be using our green cleaning products to get ready for my next baking project. All joking aside, I get to bake chocolate chip cookies and other goodies because I do work from home, and it beats mowing the grass. Of course the kids eat the cookies as fast as I can make them. After all the years of telling people they have the right to remain silent, and now I let my secret out of the closet. He can cook? Bake? It tastes good?

Come on guys, most of us are not helpless in the kitchen. It’s not that big of a deal. How many men are doing the Mr. Mom thing? Laid off and the wife is the one working. My advantage is that my youngest child graduates from high school in less than two weeks. Yet I still have time to work in between baking some cookies and cooking some barbeque chicken for dinner. Real work from home that is legitimate does require some work, but you can set your own hours, deal with the kids and still play in the kitchen.

Courtesy of Rachel Ray’s website and Plan B Mom for this recipe I found. It’s easy and the cookies are great. Now if the NFL will get their lockout and strike straightened out. So I’m impatient……cookies anyone?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 4 Dozen Cookies

Ingredients

        2 Cups all purpose flour

        1 teaspoon baking soda

        1 teaspoon kosher salt

        1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)

        1 cup brown sugar

        ½ cup sugar

        1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

        2 large eggs

        2 cups chocolate chip

       

        Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with baker’s spray, such as Baker’s Joy brand.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla in a mixing bowl until creamy and light in color. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the flour mixture and stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls (12 per pan, evenly spaced) and bake for 12 minutes, switching and turning the pans around halfway through the cooking time. DO NOT OVERBAKE – the cookies continue to cook after they come out of the oven. Cool on the sheets for 1-2 minutes, then remove the cookies (carefully – these are thin) to a rack to finish cooling. Store tightly sealed with a slice of bread to keep them soft, (if they last that long).

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