chocolate chip. or butter

Butter.  Flour.  Eggs. Salt.  Sugar. 5 simple ingredients that when measured and combined properly open the doorway to so many good, wonderful treats.  The types of foods that make you stop and savor, to relax (a bit) and reflect on the simple, sweet things in life.

Luckily, there is no shortage of sweet treat creation in our home, especially in December.  Today was a chilly, perfect day for turning the oven on and breaking out the Kitchen-Aid Stand mixer.

How is it, that after all these years, the simple joys of baking cookies always brings you right back to baking in mom’s kitchen as a child, anxiously awaiting both the end result of the bake and also the end result of the Christmas season –  presents!

We have been fans of Williams Sonoma for years, and it was a number of years back that we found these adorable little aprons from the local shop.  They had exactly the right amount, and I went ahead and bought Cameron’s apron even though he, at the time, didn’t even exist yet.  Planning is fun!

Today, we focused on chocolate chip and butter cookies, with butter cookies ( also known as Sand-Tarts) up for the decorating when wet were are finished our task.

All the kids enjoy the sand-tart decorating (who wouldn’t),, but as for me, I veer towards the chocolate chip.  

We typically use Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips for our cookies and wow, what a difference they can make.