An Inconvenient Tumor

The New C-Word

I'm switching "C-words." Enough with cancer. At least for this week.

The "C-word" I want to talk about is....COOKIES. Go ahead and laugh, I know you want to. But as it turns out, in addition to this blog and going to Bar Method workouts, baking/cooking is a HUGELY cathartic activity for me. So much so that I made over 100 cookies last week. You read right; 100 cookies in two days.

"What's gotten into you?" Bryan asked.

"What do you mean?" I responded, as I peeked out from the kitchen, dusted in flour, baking soda and salt. My hands were covered in a chocolate chip, walnut and sea salt cookie dough. That was only one of three types of cookies I made, as I also dreamed up mini peanut butter cup/chocolate chip and toffee/walnut crumble cookies.

If I don't say so myself, they were fantastic. Check out the photos as evidence.

There is really something about the precise nature of baking and cooking that is wonderfully satisfying. For me, making cookies is a foolproof recipe, one if followed correctly yields delicious and potentially beautiful results. That's right, I said beautiful. There is nothing better than a freshly-baked cookie, bursting with chunks of melted chocolate, nuts and peanut butter. Or one with a chocolate fudge drizzle that becomes crispy at the cookie's edge. That's pure beauty to me.

Not to mention, I get to experiment with recipes. For anyone who knows me or who has eaten any of my food, I love to take a base recipe and then make it my own. Which is what I did with the cookies. I tripled a recipe of a base cookie recipe, divided it into three bowls and added whatever ingredients I thought would make some kick-ass cookies. Then I baked. And baked. And baked.

The sad news is that I only had one sheet pan (I've since purchased another; thank you 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupon) so it took several rounds of 11-14 minute baking cycles to cook all of the cookies. The first go-round I baked for about three hours. The second go-round was about five hours. Our entire apartment building smelled like cookies, so I thought it was only appropriate to share some with our neighbors. Otherwise, you could just call me a giant cookie-tease.

I don't just love baking, I love sharing what I make with others. Oddly enough, personally I don't have much of a sweet tooth. Give me savory any day; wine and cheese to be exact. That said, I love to bake and share. So that's what I did. I made little boxes of cookies for our neighbors, friends and family. I even tied little ribbons and pasted custom labels on the boxes. Dare I say, with the exception of a "Christie's Cookies" or "Bishops' Bakery" logo, it looked pretty professional. I was happy and proud to give our friends some delicious treats that had helped me manage my stress levels. It was a win-win all around.

Last night, I needed something to make for Megan, Bryan's occupational therapist. As I've written before, our "deal" is that she helps Bryan and in return, I make her food. So far I've made her pumpkin bread, chili, pasta, and cookies...but I wanted to mix it up. I had been wanting to make turtle brownies from scratch, but have been intimidated by the thought of making caramel from scratch. Terrifying thoughts of bubbling, burning sugar danced in my head. However, threat to our kitchen and apartment building aside – hey, we're only renters – I decided to go for it. Megan wasn't coming until 5:30 or so, and it was only 4:00pm, so I had plenty of time. I threw together the brownies ingredients, cheated through the "let cool to room temperature" by throwing the batter in the freezer, and started on the caramel recipe. It was easier than I thought, and I even went so far as to make a homemade chocolate ganache - a slippery, shiny, sheen of chocolate deliciousness for those not in the know – to drizzle over the brownies. There are photos of those, too.

I gave a few of the brownies to Megan, to my mom and to my matron of honor, Lyndsey. I'm going to give a few to other friends tomorrow, too, and even take some to a wedding shower on Friday night. Watching other people enjoy treats that I've made makes me incredibly happy and gives me a sense of purpose. Ironically, this is the closest thing to a food blog since I was laid off and Bryan got diagnosed. Short of creating my own food website, I get a great sense of fulfillment by just having the time and energy and capacity to write about food. Adding photos is a plus.

Who knows, maybe a bakery is in my future? Or at least a small-scale cookie/brownie delivery service? As I said yesterday, a girl can dream. But I've got to say, it would just be the coolest thing ever if it somehow became a reality. In the meantime, enjoy the food porn.