Every year I participate in a cookie exchange with some ladies from work. My mom does so much cooking that I like to try to help out by bringing home 6 or 7 dozen cookies to keep the troops occupied satiated with sugar.
In case you’re not familiar with the concept of a cookie exchange, I have to make 6 dozen cookies and I trade them with a dozen cookies 6 other people have made. Of course I also like to make a dozen to take home for myself because I (unbiasedly) believe mine are usually the best anyway. With 7 dozen cookies to make, I like to try to find something simple (with 7 dozen cookies even easy recipes become a challenge) and this year after considering several options, I decided to go with a recipe my friend Garrison sent: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. Garrison assured me they were super-easy and, to his credit, informed me that the standard recipe went a long way- he got almost 5 dozen cookies out of the recipe for 2-3 dozen.
So I woke up this morning, pulled up the recipe and wrote up my shopping list (trip #1). I figured I’d make 6 dozen and the overage Garrison warned me about would cover the dozen for my family. Naturally, I did not bother to look in my cabinet before I left. I “knew” I had sugar and Vanilla extract but I needed everything else. An hour later I came home a realized I had just bought my third container of unsweetened cocoa (the second one had never been opened) and had less than a cup of sugar. So I hoofed it back to Harris Teeter (trip #2), returned my cocoa and grabbed a bag of sugar.
Back at the house I was ready to go. I melted my margarine and mixed my cocoa etc. It was going well and smelling good but when I got to the point where I had to add the oatmeal I quickly learned the entire container I had bought was only 5 cups of the 9 cups I needed. I actually went through the thought processes of “do I *really* needed another 4 cups?”, and “who do I know that wants to run out and get me oatmeal?” but in the end I knew what I had to do. So, with the stove on very low I ran back to Harris Teeter (trip #3) and bought another container of oatmeal. At this point the manager and the cashier both knew me and asked me how the cookies were going. I admitted to my inability to do math as I dashed out the door.
Got home, again, and I dumped the rest of the oatmeal in and stirred. Cookies done = yeah! Next step: lay-out the cookies. They’re no-bake but they have to cool and harden so they need to be laid out on wax paper (btw, I bought that too and already had a roll at home…). So I started putting cookies out, and kept going and going and going. Ran out of counter space and put several trays in the fridge. Garrison was not exaggerating. The recipe was for 72 cookies and I have about 120.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Enjoy the season and may you all have too many cookies!
