Domestication

When Aaron and I first moved here to Baltimore and undertook our "move in" grocery excursion Aaron suggested that we buy baking basics (flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.). My first thought was, "I'm pretty sure I told him I don't bake." I don't know if he saw the look on my face or just felt the nonexcitement emanating from my mind, but he continued saying that he thought it would be fun for us to bake together. He said he always saw the married guys bring homemade cookies they had made with their wives and thought it would be fun. I was hesitant, but what kind of wife would I be if I refused to buy flour? Don't get me wrong, I really like to cook... but I'm not known for my baking skills! But we collected all the necessary items from the baking aisle and continued with our shopping.

A couple weeks later Aaron suggested that we make some chocolate chip cookies. I was a little less hesitant as I was excited for cookies and something we could do together. We faithfully followed the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips package and made some pretty delicious cookies... that even stayed soft until they were all eaten! (May not seem like a big deal to most of you, but it is for me.) I was pleased with our baking experience. Although Aaron liked the cookies he said that he generally liked his chocolate chip cookies chewier. Although we didn't do anything about it then, the unintended challenge was issued and I felt the need to make chewier chocolate chip cookies!

So yesterday I had a hankering to be in the kitchen, but we had been invited to our bishop's house for dinner so I didn't need to make dinner. I decided that I would try making some different cookies... I originally wanted to make sugar cookies, but I had shot down purchasing shortening and was subsequently thwarted in my sugar cookie desires... darn kharma. So I decided to try my hand at chewier chocolate chip cookies.

Thanks to Martha Stewart's Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, I believe my attempt was a success! After some issues with the baking time were solved, the chewy chocolate chip cookies were just about perfect!

Any other tips of easy baking recipes we could try our hand at?