The Sweetness of Saturday

We have traditions in our house. One of those traditions is Hubby’s Birthday Dinner. While Kiddo and I might take him out to eat sometime around his birthday, on his actual day I make his favorite supper. It’s really a simple meal – just Meatloaf, AuGratin Potatoes and Green Beans.

You can’t get more down to earth than that. It began as a tradition shortly after Hubby and I were married, when he told me that his favorite dish was meatloaf. You see, it’s my least favorite. So the joke was that on his birthday each year I would make a meatloaf. It was a lot like baking a Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving. I don’t eat Pumpkin Pie, but I’ve been told a make a delicious pie. Unlike the Pumpkin Pie that I still won’t eat, I’ve come to like Meatloaf. I wouldn’t mind making it more often, but then it wouldn’t be such a special Birthday Supper anymore.

This year in addition to his favorite, I also baked Hubby cookies. There’s something magical about eating a cookie warm from the oven. The smell of cookies baking is a lot like the smell of breads on an autumn day – the senses come alive and you are somehow transported back to a time that felt safe and warm. The magic of childhood. It’s also why there are companies that specialize in recreating some of those homey smells – to help sell a house. If when you walk through the door you feel at home, there’s a better chance you might just buy.

I’m sure there are dozens if not hundred of dozens of recipes out there for Chocolate Chips. Yet for us, and for most Americans, there’s nothing to compare to home-baked Tollhouse Cookies. Mrs. Fields Cookies are amazing, but those make us think shopping malls or airports. Just as Cinnabons do. As a kid you knew you were in for a treat when the Nestles Chocolate Chips and a mixing bowl were placed on the counter.

When Hubby was going over the grocery list, he pulled out some chocolate chips that were in the baking pantry and asked if we could use those. I shook my head. When we were in the baking aisle of the grocery store, he reached for a generic bag of chocolate chips. Again I firmly but lovingly corrected him. We weren’t going to celebrate his special day with generic, run of the mill chocolate chips cookies. It was Tollhouse and nothing but Tollhouse. Sometimes I wonder what goes through a man’s brain.

Let’s get to baking shall we?

Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies
2-1/4 cups Flour*
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
16 tablespoons Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 large Eggs
12 oz Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped Nuts*

Note: If omitting nuts, add 1-1/2 tablespoons more flour to the flour mixture.

Heat oven to 375-degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, both sugars and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chips and nuts, if using. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake in the heated oven until golden brown, about 9 minutes or so. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Warm cookies are the best, but completely cool is still delicious.

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Blessed are You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
You have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.