chunkin'.

i don't get down with cherry flavor.
nope.
cherry flavored stuff is almost always kind of gross.
what i mean is-
candy, soda, manufactured stuffs of that nature,
all of it's got that weird medicine taste,
and it's always way too red.
however,
real-life flavorful ACTUAL cherries?
yeah.
those are cool.
i like to get activated by new things,
so i worked up a big ol' batch of from-scratch cookies,
and i used some tart sweetened dried cherries inside.
neighbors,
chocolate and cherries get molto fresh together.
check the teleport:

wow!
it's no secret that i love cookies.
i mean, if it's a treat,
i'm usually pretty much all about it.
it's just that these treats seem so adult.
uh-huh.
the taste is powerful, but in no way overpowering.
the dark brown sugary buttery cookie taste fades to chocolate,
and that's expert,
but then the chocolate gives way to sweet, fruity new hottness,
and that's even more expert,
and then,
everybody's flavor touches everybody elses',
and the whole things melts into a decadent orgiastic tongue-wrestling match,
where we all leave with the title.
daaaaaaaaaaaamn.
that's some cookie.
the ganache drizzle swirls, with that wavy new pattern jauns?
i think it looks sophisticated.
do you?
oh.
well,
what about the red and gold sugar sprankles?
yeah.
it's a subtle touch,
but it's a good one, for sure.
guys,
here's how it all really happens:
half a cup of butterish;
a 1/4 tsp. salt;
a cup of dark brown sugar;
two teaspoons of vanilla;
(cream all that together)
add a half a cup of applesauce;
then sift in two and a half cups of flour;
a tsp of baking soda;
a tsp of baking powpowder;
to which you fire up 6oz of chocolate chips;
and a cup of chopped dried cherries.....
how simple is that??!
that doughski gets rolled into golf balls,
the balls in turn get pressed flat,
and with proper spacing on a sheet designed for that oven,
they all get baked together for 13 minutes at 375F.......
that's actually all there is to it.
nice.
*
i bake because it puts the finished product into clear focus.
success is edible, visible, tangible, and non-debatable.
tattoos are so subjective by comparison.
seriously.
as a matter of routine,
i get clients who want an eight hour tattoo,
done in three hours,
on a one hour budget.
i hate to be the big bad wolf in those scenarios,
but i feel like i can't let that house of straw stand.
y'know?
i can do three things about that situation:
i can give you the sexiest possible one-hour's-worth-budget tattoo.
i can give you a three hour version of the eight hour marathon
that you thought, based on limited experience, and limitless self-absorbed optimism,
should only take a quick little minute to bang out....
or,
i can do it right, over time, and we'll create the big action together
over multiple sessions of concentrated committed work.
more often than not,
up in this remote woodsly realm,
the choice falls directly between the first two options,
based on time, detemination, financial concerns,
and the need for instant gratification/on-demand settle-for satisfaction.
yikes!
baking, on the other hand, is a unilateral success story.
i decide what i'm making,
and i make it,
and it takes as long as it takes, and it tastes like what i want to be in it.
there's no collaboration,
just elaboration on my very own ideas.
and that require no creative input or financial backing by others.
mmmmm.
yeah, friends-
that's just SO F*ing excellent.
i bake to bring myself back to the creative process,
rather than the troubleshooting troublemaking trials
of compromise and cooperation that comprise the waking workweek of
weak sauce and movie checks.
i bring my cookies to work,
not to share with others so much as to remind myself that there IS a time
and a place where the worthy warrior poetry of will and effort gets results.
it's all really still unfolding,
the ups and downs and ins and outs of this secret universal plan.
the story isn't getting less complicated,
but the characters are developing accordingly;
never quiet, never soft.....