Cookie Therapy & Laundry Lines

There is something about cookies that can change your entire day.  Even more so, the perfect cup of tea and a cookie can make a whole weeks worth of difference.  Christmas is officially over (the whole family is back at their respective homes and ours is left woefully quiet) and I’m jonesing for something warm, homey and chocolate.

Enter Emily’s Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies.  And a cup of Lady Gray.



My Grandma gave be the Better Homes and Gardens Bridal Edition Cookbook for a bridal shower gift and I practically live by that thing.    For my cookies (which have received a thumbs-up from the Mr.), I used their basic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.

The only reason I actually changed the recipe at all is because I love coconut.  If I could, I would marry it.  You could roll a small child in coconut and I would eat them up.  Seriously, coconut is amazing.

In the end, my recipe ends up looking like this…

1 cup butter                                                                                                     1/2 cup granulated sugar                                                                              3/4 cup packed brown white sugar                                                              1/2 teaspoon baking soda                                                                                2 eggs                                                                                                                   1 teaspoon vanilla almond extract                                                                    2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour                                                                             1 12 ounce package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate pieces                            1 cup coconut powder (or flakes)

Cream together the butter and sugar, then mix the eggs, extract and baking soda together.  Combine with the butter/sugar.  Stir in the flour, and lastly the chocolate and the coconut.  Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes.

I found that hanging the laundry in the backyard while waiting for the cookies to bake was a perfect use of my time, and the sun felt amazing.  There’s also something really calming about hanging us laundry.  And it kind of feels like time travel.  It’s like you’re in your great-grandma’s house doing things she would have done.  Cookies and hanging laundry, and whatnot.  I love it.

Of course, you only have this option if you currently live somewhere that is 85 degrees and sunny in January.  Barring that, just putting fluffy socks on might have the same warming, relaxing effect.