My Cookie Project- 1 year later

I was thinking it was time to check in on my cookie baking project, and that it had been about a year since I started. Then I checked the blog archives and it's only been 10 month. Huh. Oh well, close enough.

I started baking cookies last fall for several reasons but mostly because I hated baking and was also very very bad at it. Very bad.

So my goal was to force myself not only to learn it but to LIKE it. As the kids were getting older and the addition of weekly babysitting brought more kids in the house, I liked the idea of having something homemade available for treats. It seems like a very June Cleaver idea doesn't it?

I found that making drop cookies is really not hard at all. It seems most of them have the same basic ingredients...flour, sugar, eggs and then some other stuff to differentiate. Making a huge mess all the time had been a concern of mine also, and I was pleasantly surprised that that wasn't so bad either, using my handy rubbermaid containers for dry storage and a file folder for recipes.

I guess a year later I would say I am no longer scared to TRY cooking and baking new things. I'm almost certain that extra time spent in the kitchen is part of what me brave enough to try my recent adventures in freezer cooking. The kitchen is not as scary as I thought, and not necessarily only "Jeremy's territory".

Many friends and family members have benefited from donations of cookies, and I found the joy in sharing food with people for no good reason other than that you want to. My waistline didn't suffer or shrink...it's pretty much (sadly) the same as it was a year ago, but having a jar full of fresh cookies always in the kitchen was a good exercise in self control.

I guess there is no point to my post here than to say that it's good to make silly goals and stick with them. I didn't bake all those cookies just cause I was bored, but because I wanted to learn something and bless my family. Mission accomplished.

I've made 19 recipes, and they can all be found here. I'm still baking, and Jeremy has ventured into baking our bread on a weekly basis. Bread scares me a bit (wait didn't I just say I wasn't scared?).

Today I made some of the famous black onyx cookies for Jeremy's birthday tomorrow, and I did it with such speed and efficiency that I surprised myself. Not too shabby.