I am SO NOT a Baker

When I was a little girl my mom, my sister and I used to bake all the time.  I have lots of memories of being in the kitchen frosting birthday cakes, rolling peanut butter cookie balls in a bowl of sugar, pulling cookies out of cookie cutters, and melting marshmallows for rice crispy treats.

Then one day Molly and I found ourselves alone in the kitchen.  Making our own birthday cakes.

My mom doesn't like to bake, but she is an amazing mother, so she spent many days in that kitchen teaching us how to bake because she thought that's what mothers should do.  {And she realized that once we knew how to bake... she didn't have to.}

I am my mother {in so many ways, not just because I don't like to bake}.  I {like my mother} am just really not a sweets person.  I like salt.  Give me chips and salsa over chocolate any day and twice on Sundays.  So my problem with baking is that by the time I am done licking the spatula, bowl, and mixer... I have had enough.  I don't even want to look at anything sweet, much less eat it.  And then it all feels like a big waste. 

The other day I saw these in the grocery store:

and I thought, Hmmm... Nathan loves oatmeal cookies, and these seem like they would be yummy in oatmeal cookies.

So after school one day, Beau and I decided to make some cookies.

We used the recipe on the back of the bag of cinnamon chips because everyone knows that the best cookie recipes are on the back of the bag of chips.  Just ask Phoebe's Aunt Nestle Tollhouse.  

I got the first batch in the oven, and Beau decided to go out to play with the neighbors.  I went outside to grab the mail, and a client showed up to pick up her calendar.  I got to talking with her because she was getting ready to move across the country.  We were chit-chatting about Washington DC, and missing friends, and... I totally forgot about the cookies!

When I got in the house, the timer was flashing:

and had been for who knows how long.

Batch #1: Burned.

I got the next batch in the oven and decided that I was not going to leave the room.  I set the timer again, and waited.

I took them out right when the timer went off.  And... they were burned.  Dang new oven!

0 for 2.

Batch # 3 went in the oven.  I set the timer for a little less time.  Then I thought I would just peek out on Beau.  I ran into my neighbor and we started talking about his job, the other neighbors that drive too fast, the traffic from the school across the street... and I totally forgot about the cookies!


Darn it all... 0 for 3!

The fourth batch went in, and I pulled my chair up to the oven door and watched.

The timer went off, and they actually needed some more time.  When I finally took them out... they were perfect.

I got one more good batch, and ended up with some decent specimens.

Luckily, Nathan likes his cookies on the crunchy side.  He ate every. last. one.  He even said that they were my best cookies ever {which, let's be honest... isn't saying much}.

I think I'll stick to cooking.