Sunday, February 15, 2009

Night Baking


Last night after Andrew left for work I looked out the window to see the most beautiful sky. When I stepped out the front door I couldn't help but be drawn to the glowing red sign from the market down the street, so I decided to pack up the camera, grab a bag for my purchases, and take a short walk in search of a few remaining ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. I decided to take the sky as a sign - make something beautiful. I know, I know, they're just cookies, right? But friends, until you've had one of Ashley's fantastic chocolate brown sugar confections, you just won't understand what I mean when I say: this cookie will change your life. Ok, that might be dramatic, it sounded a little more sane in my head, but the sentiment is still the same - the process of creaming butter and sugar, whisking flour and salt, folding in chunks of dark chocolate, it's a healing one. Long week? Bad day? Can't make sense of the world? What better than recipe?

Just before Andrew arrived home from a long, unexpected shift, I pulled a tray of these lovelies from the oven, watched as their slightly puffed tops relaxed into themselves, creating the most beautiful tops, rippled with dark chocolate ribbons and a terrain of buttery dough made both crisp and chewy by its peaks and valleys. I'm not ashamed to say we enjoyed one for breakfast as well, the light poring in the windows, reassuring us that spring is making its way through winter's slumber.

We've got crazy to-do lists for today, even bigger ones for the week ahead, but our taxes are done, there's cookie dough left in the fridge, and I think there's a sunny midday walk in our future. We're plugging along, but trust me - the cookies help.

2 comments:

Brandi and Chelle's mom said...

Those cookies sounded so good I made cookies myself with what I had on hand. But I always forget to do like you and not cook all the dough at once. You are becoming quite a good cook.

K A R I™ said...

You mean you are supposed to actually cook cookie dough....