Nat's Buzz

In my opinion, there is no cookie better than the classic chocolate chip. However, cookies in general frustrate me – so much work for such a small product. Actually all desserts that require individual attention (cupcakes, whoopie pies, etc) tend to drive me crazy (with Christmas cookies being the exception since it’s a special time of year). If the offending recipe can be converted to a 9X13in pan instead of individual chunks of time, I’m the gal to make that happen. Apparently I have a reputation because my family knows that if they want something resembling a chocolate chip cookie, they ask me for a “cookie bar,” not “cookies.”

When Alice asked me for cookie bar on Sunday evening, I said I’d make it Monday to which she asked – “Can I help?”. In light of the fact that our dvd player is now broken thanks to little helpers who were trying to fix it when it was already in top notch condition, those same little helpers seem to be more aware of what I do during the time they would be watching their routine morning video, which will never become a morning routine again according to my husband. (Yes, I admit it – put me in the SAHM’s Hall of Shame – if we are at home for the morning, my kids usually watch a 30-40min dvd which sometimes – ok, ok… many times – turns into an hour.) So now that we no longer have that diversion, it seems that once the mixer is gotten out of hiding and placed on the counter their little baker’s antennas shoot up faster than you can say “baking is for grownups,” and they are all about dumping, pouring, mixing etc. (I used to love baking with Alice. We had lovely bonding experiences standing side-by-side while I helped her carefully pour ingredients into the bowl, explaining in detail what we were doing, slowly savoring each step. But since Ian has become very interested in the process, it has become that… a process, not to mention a mess while the kids stand side-by-side with no room for mom to guide measuring cups to the bowl while listening to the discourse of “It’s my turn to pour the sugar in.” “NO, it’s MY turn. You did it last time.” grinding on my patience. And of course they are usually ready for the next step before I’m finished with the prior one. Any tips on baking with little ones would be appreciated because I don’t want to squelch their interest by not allowing them to help out.)

A little disclaimer: this is not a recipe post. I have nothing against blogs that showcase recipes. In fact, the 1-2ish blogs that I read with a bit of regularity do contain recipes many of which I appreciate. This post is merely a tribute to the classic chocolate chip cookie with a small twist which Daniel and I have found we cannot!! keep our hands off of, nor keep our mouths from ingesting. It is also a tribute to those of you who have had the pleasure of baking with little ones underfoot… or I mean “helping out.”

 

The making of a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.