Cookies made for sharing

Today was one of those rainy fall days that make me want to curl up under a blanket and read.  I did not do either one of those things, but I did make Pumpkin Chocolate Chips cookies!!!  I am not a fancy cook, or even a half way decent cook most of the time, but I am going to start sharing some of my recipes with you from time to time.  I have added a link to "Food Misty Makes" on the right side of my blog where I will post recipes I use.  I make no promises that they will be any good, but I will try and I will give you my honest opinion. These cookies are, in my opinion, a perfect fall treat (especially on a rainy fall day), and since the recipe makes 7 dozen they are perfect for sharing!

I love to bake.  I grew up in a house where we always had the ingredients to bake cookies from scratch, a cake mix in the cupboard, and several boxes of jello and pudding in the drawer.  I didn't have to go to the store if I wanted to try out a new recipe, or if I got the urge to bake chocolate chips cookies in the middle of the day, because everything I needed was waiting for me in the kitchen.  Flour, baking soda, eggs, butter, vanilla, and sugar are all staples in my kitchen as an adult as well.  I don't need a special recipe to make me put almond extract on my shopping list because it is something I keep in the cupboard at all times. 

I love how you can take ingredients that are so blah on their own and mix them together to create something so amazing.  Have you tried vanilla extract straight from the bottle?  It's not good! 

Unfortunately I lose interest once the batter is made.  I don't really want to bake the cookies because it's a long and boring process.  I actually prefer the taste of the batter over the baked product most of the time.  I absolutely do not want to clean up the mess!  These are the moments I wish I had married a man who was obsessed about cleaning and thought it was fun to get the kitchen back to being squeaky clean. 

I get through it every time and am rewarded by the "mmmmm" sound people make when they walk into my house and smell warm cookies just out of the oven.  Now that we live close to my family I enjoy baking even more often because I can share the sweets with them.  I usually don't want the baked goods after I've sampled the batter one too many times, and there are just the 2 of us so we don't need 7 dozen cookies!  Thank goodness we have family who is willing to take them of our hands!