March 12, 2007
By Cylinda Nickel
 

Okay, so it is a snow day and I thought--what would Betty Crocker do on a snow day? Make chocolate chip cookies, of course.

Well I ain’t no Betty Crocker. This can be proven when I tell you what took place this past fall at my mother’s house. My mother was making homemade cookies. My seven year old said, “What are you doing Nana?” She said, “Making cookies. Seanna then questioned, “Where is the tube?” I, at that point, was praying for my personal rapture after going to the “I am an unfit mother” section of my brain.

The Magic of Baking Math!
Well today I got out my cookbook that my mother and sister-in-law made for me. I headed straight to the chocolate chip cookies page. I remembered in the back of my head that my mom always doubled the batch. I thought of the company that we were having on Sunday and said, “Why not double the batch?” Now at this point any other cook would have looked at the recipe and realized my mother had doubled it for me already.

I did not know that 4 1/2 cups of flour and 3 cups of sugar is enough to feed an army in itself. I got past my “Math is hard” fit and doubled the ingredients. Surely nine cups of flour and 6 cups of sugar would be perfect. Which, for those of you who like me are not up to the bakers-of-heaven level, means I am now dealing with a quadrupled batch of cookies. I started feeling good about my decision after my six sticks of butter, six eggs, and six teaspoons of vanilla; cooking could be fun.

That’s Not All!
Then the time came to add the dry ingredients. Wow, I thought, 9 cups of flour looks like a lot. Oh well. Then I came to my first blunder--I added baking soda instead of powder. Ever the Nancy Drew, I re-read my recipe in the snip of time finding I needed to scrape off the baking soda and add the powder. Who keeps baking powder in their kitchen anyway? Not me--other than the box that was keeping away odors in the fridge. I prayed that it had not absorbed too many onions, garlic cloves, or peppers. I cut the top off the
box and measured three tsp. At this point I was glad the film crew from “Cooking and How It Takes Over Your Day” was not here today.

I now take the “dry” ingredients and try to mix it to the “wet” ingredients. Hmmm. The bowl was already full, but I had a huge bowl of flour and more to add. So I tried anyway. In the future, when things look too full--do not proceed. It does not fit. Step away from the mixer.

I now called on John who was working in the living room. I explained to him that maybe I had quadrupled the recipe and that I needed him to get the huge “trick or treat” plastic bowl down from the top of the cabinets. He gave me the bowl and a you-are-too-weird-for-words look. I put the flour and the other batter in the bowl. I went for my trusty “hand mixer.” This is great I thought. I have a solution.

Heavenly Results
When you think you have a solution you don’t necessarily have one. The bowl was deep and my mixer was little. I began to spew cookie batter on the fridge, my shirt, the sink, Joe the dog, the floor, it was snowing batter everywhere. At this point, John told me not to pull it up, to keep it down in the bowl. Really, I think? At this point I want to whip some at him! (Did I say that?)

I am now thinking I will never get the flour and the sugar to blend, nor will I ever have cookies. I poured a bag and a half of chocolate chips into it, and some nuts and prayed for the best. My girlfriend called and I told her about it. She was laughing so hard she had to put the phone down and run to the bathroom.

I eagerly awaited the timer to go off. How could nine minutes be so long? The kitchen looked a mess, but smelled great. At the sound of the timer I eagerly opened the door of the stove. They looked normal. They smelled normal. Okay; this was going to be okay. I let them cool on a rack. I pulled a little cute one off the rack and shoved it into my mouth! A taste of heaven; they were wonderful.

Except . . .
Eleven batches later (and still counting) two neighbors are filled with my cookies and I am still going. Hmm. I am beginning to see how they felt in the Bible when they had to gather the jars for the oil. These things sure do multiply. What a great witnessing opportunity!

Oops, I have to run--the timer is going off!!

ninetyandnine.com
 

Ó 2007, Cylinda Nickel

 

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Cylinda Nickel lives in Charlotte, NC, where she works as a travel agent. However, her passion is her work as the Assistant Coordinator for MK (Missionary Kid) Ministries, as she was raised as an MK in the Leeward Islands.