Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Calm

Tomorrow, we should wake up to 6-8 inches of snow that will continue to fall throughout the day.

Today was 50 and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, the most beautiful January day I've spent in Wisconsin. Actually, it would have been a beautiful October day, and Wisconsin excels at Octobers.

We spent a solid hour after school at the playground, hanging out with 3 other moms, kids, and siblings from Harry's class.  Cooper slept in the Ergo (so much more comfortable without the infant insert, by the way), and we only paid attention to our manically frolicking children when their hysterical is-this-really-winter-oh-my-god-vitamin-D-at-last play turned violent.
I can't stop myself from calling Cooper Mr. Baby.  He doesn't mind.

Notice that Jack's gaze is still firmly planted on the glowing talking box.

Matching shirts!  Cooper is always missing that sock, by the way.  Also, he wears 6-12 month clothes at 4 months, a first for one of my kids.  The others always wore 3-6 until they were way past the 6.

Jack has been eating lots of fruits and veggies in his breakfast smoothies. Here he is showing me how strong he's become.

Harry loves Cooper and vice versa.  Also?  It's like Cooper WANTS a flat head.  I put him on his tummy and BAM! He flips over.

I am having a severe cookie problem.  My chocolate chip cookies are flat as a pancake.  I made some the other day and blamed  too-soft butter (melted it a little in the micro on accident) and maybe even the whole wheat pastry flour.  My Facebook friends agreed and offered some suggestions for improving them.  I made them again today with twice the salt, white flour, and half butter, half shortening, and I chilled the dough for 2 hours before baking.  EVEN FLATTER.  I am using the recipe on the back of the chips-- nothing fancy.  Could I be over mixing them in my stand mixer?  Could it be the parchment paper on my cookie sheets?  What is wrong with my cookies?

Gotta go-- Mr. Baby has decided to add a 10:00 feeding-- nice of him, huh?

7 comments:

  1. Okay, we should get AJU7 and Cooper together. Cooper could teach AJU7 to go to her back, and AJU7 could teach him to stay on his belly :) She rolls to her belly as fast as she can most days!

    Have fun with the snow. We would love 1-3 days of that, but I bet we would be tired of it after that...

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  2. Are you making good old Nestle Tollhouse cookies? Why mix them any other way than by hand? I don't think they need mixed a ton, but I also am not sure that I think that would make a difference. I also doubt that melty butter would make them flat.

    All that to say, try them with the ingredients exactly as they say and see what happens. If they are still flat, it is you, not the ingredients. :)

    The picture of Harry & Cooper on the floor could be Ben & Cooper.

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  3. I love the "big and strong" face and accompanying muscle flexing. Ethan does the same thing--so cute!

    I cannot fathom what could be wrong with the cookies, but honestly, the ability to see so clearly where the chocolate chips are is really just a bonus to me...

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  4. Check how old your baking soda (or is it powder) is. If it is old, it may have lost it's magic leavening power.

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  5. I think the issue is the recipe, not your ingredients or methods. I did a quick search and it seems like a lot of people have had problems with flat cookies from the Tollhouse recipe.

    Maybe try a new recipe. I really like this one: http://www.leenaeats.com/blog/recipes/leena-bakes/leena-cooks-for-the-holidays-c-i-s-chocolate-chip-cookie-reinvented/

    It's quick, you don't have to wait for the butter to come to room temp (you melt it), you make it without a stand mixer, so easy clean up, and the butter gets browned, which makes the dough have this almost butterscotch-y flavor to it. Super addictive.

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  6. Love the pics!! Sorry about the cookies, but I'm sure they taste delicious no matter what. I kind of want one right now. Maybe I'll put Ryan on that job while I watch TV.

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  7. Cookie tip- lower the oven temp to 325. (The chilled dough is good too) Lower temp will let the cookie "set-up" in the oven before the butter completely melts which spreads out the cookie.
    Also second the baking soda/powder comment.

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