So if you hang around with me it will get to that point pretty quickly.  I get excited and want to impress you, so we make it.  Well, for the most part it’s just me, cause I’m kinda bossy and think I know everything.  If you want to get your hand in there and give it a whirl I have no objection.  But sooner or later I won’t be able to keep my mouth shut and I’ll take over so the job gets done quickly and with the best result possible.  It’s better if you just stand back and watch.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but when it comes to this, I really just know how to get things done a lot better than you.  And then, Saturday night, it happened.

VD.

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This was my first year in the past three or four that I’ve actually had someone to cook for, so I was relatively excited.  I make dinner a lot for us, so it wasn’t anything new or particularly exciting for him, but anytime I have a chance to cook for someone who isn’t going to potentially throw it on the floor is a good time for me.  I didn’t want get too fancy or over-the-top; just straight forward, good food.  So I did Zuni chicken, mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, and cookies.  I’m highlighting the cookies here simply because while doing the rest his roommates were in and out of the kitchen and I didn’t want anyone thinking “Hey look at that crazy weird chick taking pictures of her food.  But damn her hair looks really good.”  Well, they were probably thinking the latter, because it totally did that night.

So.  Cookies.  I know I should have done some three tiered red velvet cake or something with billow-ing meringue and whipped cream or heart shaped cut-outs with more red sanding sugar than cookie base, but he doesn’t like that stuff.  So I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  Not the height of romanticism, I know, but who needs food porn when you’re going to whip out the real stuff later?  (Kidding.  Or so you think…)

I pulled the recipe out of Baked because DAMN those brownies are good.  (Seriously, I make them as much as I do Ina’s now.)  Pretty straightfoward recipe:  cream butter and sugar, PB, add eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients, mix, add chocolate.  (Parker really enjoyed those chips, as you can see up there.)  It required a three hour resting period, which I’ve seen elsewhere, but I’m not exactly sure what the point of it is.  All it really seemed to do was whack out my cookie scoop since the batter was so firm.

Anyway, after scooping them out, I stuck them in the oven and glanced back at the cookbook.  And then I went “Hey, there sure is a lot more text left to read after ‘preheat to 375.’”  I figured after that all I had to do was scoop the dough out and stick it in the oven for ten minutes or so.  But upon further perusal, I found out I was supposed to squish them semi-flat and sprinkle with more sugar.  I squished the next tray down, but didn’t bother with the sugar cause I’m lazy.  I pulled the first tray out and they were puffy and kinda cake-y looking.  I figured this was due to my lack of reading the damn recipe all the way through first and thought nothing of it.  I stuck the next tray oven and turned around and those suckers had fallen flat.  It wasn’t a big deal, I mean they’re cookies, not a souffle, I just don’t know what the whole business was about squishing them was.  I’m also really glad I didn’t add the sugar on top, as they were pretty sweet as they were.  Because I suck at life I was out of unsalted butter, so I used salted and didn’t add the salt in the recipe.  I wish I would’ve halved the additional salt and added it anyway.  And despite the warning not to use semisweet chocolate, I think I will next time.  I really couldn’t even taste the milk.  Live and learn.

So verdict for the whole meal?  Way better than I ever expected.  The chicken was very good, as Zuni chicken always is, but the best part is is that I got to feed the whole house.  Right before we ate I peeked into the living room where the All-Star game was on and the sangria was flowing and let the roommate and his friends and dad know there was plenty of food.  That chicken was picked clean.  Everyone loved the cookies.  The roommate actually stole them and hid them in the bar, which we found while cleaning up the next morning.  I was pretty meh about them, but I think this is due more to my apathy towards peanut butter cookies than the actual recipe.  I was totally going to take a picture of the chicken carcass when no one was looking, but then someone brought out Cranium WOW.  And Ketel One.  And well, your guess at what happened after that would probably be more accurate than my memory.

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