A Baking Journey

When I was young(er), my sister and I would come home from school and take store-bought cookies and place them on a baking sheet and "cook" them until the chocolate melted. While we thought we were entering Baking 101, the reality is - we wanted melted chocolate and we had never heard of chocolate fondue. (This was in the olden days.) We later graduated to Tollhouse cookies. Baking cookies was usually something done over the holidays.

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During my single-actress-poverty-stricken days, I usually had free dinners where I waitressed. (Actress=waitress). On Mondays, I had the tradition of working lunch and taking my earnings to cook myself a gourmet meal (by myself) in my tiny 5-flight-walk-up Greenwich Village apartment. The kitchen had a bathtub/shower in it. Oh yes, I lived in charm. I always made a luscious dinner and dessert always came from a local pastry shop. I didn't bake.

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During my "children growing up" days, I cooked up a storm. But I rarely baked. Baking needs attention. Careful measuring. Time at oven. Hovering. I worked anywhere from 2-3 jobs at a time as a freelancer and had children who seemed to aspire to getting into the Guiness Book of World Records by seeing how many activities they could join. I baked over the holidays and then when I had an odd craving for a biscotti that no one seemed to make. In the last three years, my New Year's resolution has been to start baking. And this winter, the resolution finally took wing. Along with my weight!

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I first made these chocolate chip cookies from Donna FFW's website My Tasty Treasures. (It's the "My Big Fat Chocolate Chip Recipe" from Tyler Florence.) Each cookie can feed a family of four, so this time I adjusted the portion and the timing of the cookies. I've gotten hooked on the taste of freshly-baked. Just as I prefer that my dinner not come through a window while I sit in a car, it just took one winter to convince me that the store-bought cookies are not worth the calories. And I really wanted some cookies and milk yesterday. And the recipe couldn't be easier. Enjoy. (I like to use the Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips - but that's me.) Mr. Florence's recipe is just sitting there with nothing to do.