Five Minute Friday:

Today I'm linking up to Lisa-Jo aka gypsy mama, who chooses a topic every Friday and writes for five minutes.

This is the place where once a week we take the chance to
just write, and not worry if it’s just right or not.

For five minutes flat.

Here’s how the game works: you simply stop, drop and write. Set your words free. Don’t edit them, don’t fret over them, don’t try to make them perfect.

Today, her topic choice is "On Waiting…"

So, the clock is ticking, time to write some thoughts, and then I'm going to stop.

Waiting, I have never been very good at waiting. If practice makes perfect I should be getting pretty darn good at it by now. Waiting on family members, waiting on patients, waiting on Dr.,  waiting on photos to upload, our lives are full of waiting. 

This is a season of waiting for all of us. Ann Voskamp writes that, "it's the in-between that drives us mad." All of us are in the in-between, our time here on earth is a time of waiting, waiting for Heaven. The good news is that I don't have to be perfect, Jesus took care of that for me. I just need to use this time of waiting giving back thanks to Him, for all of the multitude of ways He has shown me His love. 

At Your Own Risk, Brown Sugar Cookies

I am going to warn you up front, these cookies are irresistible. I was looking for a recipe that I had all the ingredients for. Sugar cookies are normally my fall back cookie, but that seemed kinda boring. I Googled brown sugar cookies and found this recipe that had rave reviews. Now I am going to share it with you, but you've been warned, I am not liable for any diet meltdowns. Chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and a rich, caramely flavor in every delectable bite.

The browned butter seems to be key. I am not sure what the science of baking means that it does to the cookie, but it adds amazing flavor, don't skip that step. I also don't know why the salt is added with the brown sugar, rather than the flour.

Another thing, my butter took closer to 6 minutes to brown, so don't worry if yours takes longer than the recipe says. My butter had little brown bits floating in it, so I think that is how it is supposed to look??

I also sprinkled just a tiny bit of sea salt on the top of the cookies after I rolled them in the brown sugar mix. It makes for a great sweet/salty contrast!

Brown Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
2 cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preparation
Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a pan over medium-high heat until melted. Continue to cook the butter until it is browned a dark golden color and smells nutty, about 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer the browned butter to a bowl and stir the rest of the butter into the hot butter until it melts- let this rest for 15 min.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a baking dish, mix granulated sugar and a ¼ cup of the brown sugar until combined well; set this mixture aside to roll dough balls in.

Mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Add 1 ¾ cup brown sugar and salt to cooled butter and mix until there are no lumps. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla to butter mixture and mix well, then add flour and mix until just combined.

Roll dough into balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter, and roll balls in brown sugar and white sugar mixture. Place balls about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake sheets one at a time until cookies are puffy and lightly browned, about 12- 14 minutes. (It says the cookies will look slightly raw between some of the cracks and seem underdone, but be careful not to over bake.) Cool on sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool.

Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated 

Gimme Five Friday

I Am Not That Mom

There is a challenge out there in the blogosphere to write on whatever comes to your mind, for five minutes. Then you are to post it unedited, unrevised. Some of the other bloggers' posts have been quite interesting, so I thought that might help give some structure to my sporadic blogging. So from now on, unless I forget, I am too busy, or what-have you, I am going to reveal the inner workings of my brain to you.

Last night, dear youngest child, sent me a text that he needed a baby picture for the annual. Of course he needed it like NOW. Unfortunately, I am not one of those moms that can calmly walk straight to the bookshelf and pull out the creative scrapbook and calmly hand over the requested picture. I looked for one of the many boxes of pictures that I have accumulated over the years. Of course that required some digging through unorganized closets and storage spaces and digging through numerous random boxes that have been rummaged through by countless hands looking for forgotten treasures. My point in all this is I had the best time looking through old pictures. If I was an organized mom I would have missed out on all that. At lest I have a jump start for graduation!!!

Ooops!! I went over my five minutes. Oh well, I always have tried to push the limits :)

Have a great day everyone!