Sweetness, From Scratch

While we were busy making all of those great spreads and pita bread, we also had a craving for some homemade chocolate chip cookies.  We made these Saturday night, and they went fast!

Usually Ryan makes them using the Betty Crocker cookbook, but this time we decided to just go with the recipe on the package of the chocolate chips.  Either way, how can you go wrong with homemade chocolate chip cookies!

Um, so about these cookies, well we must have really REALLY wanted to get them made fast.  Niether of us actually read the directions and so we mixed everything together.  In reality, the flour was to be mixed in last after all the other ingredients were mixed together.  The good news is that everything did manage to come together into one ball and we had some cookie dough.  As long as it tastes good in the end, I guess it is OK to mess up a little on the instructions, right?

Mmm, cookie dough!  Yes, I admit to eating some raw.  Yes, as someone with a degree in public health, and someone very concerned with food-borne illness, I do take my own risk at eating the occasional dough containing raw egg.

Ready for the oven...

Look how perfect they came out.

These wire racks for cooling are the best.

I love that they are stackable and all the cookies fit nicely on them and can cooly before being packaged up to eat later.

I also have some pictures from last week that I still didn't post yet, so I though before this week was over, I should just get these posted.

First up is this granola.  I mentioned Michele's Granola before in a post because I picked this up in Baltimore.  My sister actually bought this for me.  It is locally made in Baltimore.  She picked the chocolate cherry flavor because, well, I like chocolate and cherry together. 

The good news is that this made it all the way back to the island safely and Ryan and I opened it the other night.  Look at that.  It is weird, but there was a lot of granola in the bag and I have no idea why the bag looks so long and empty.  I mean I ate some, but not all of it!

Here you can see the nice chunks and the cherries, which are a good size.  It was great with the chocolate and cherry combination.

I was actually eating the granola because I was hungry and my dinner was still cooking.  I got the strangest craving for matzo ball soup, and I have tons of boxes of the mix here, so I made some.  I love matzo ball soup.  I was also cold and this helped to warm me up.

QUESTIONS:  What is your favorite kind of cookie to make from scratch?  Have you ever made granola?