Cookie baking is great. There is a great deal of satisfaction in the creation of small cakes.

I haven't quite been keeping up to my schedule. I am behind. This week I have made Mother B's bars (Claire really likes them), Buttermilk Fudge Gems, Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies and Easy coconut Drops.

Let's talk about the process. Nick Malgieri's Cookies Unlimited, to be honest, is an easy cookbook to follow, if you follow it. I believe I suffer from a cook's hubris. I think I already know how to make a batter and cook a cookie. Not so. With the Buttermilk Fudge Gems I neglected to prepare the small muffin tins properly so some of the cookies didn't make it out of the molds (it is described as a molded cookie, more to come in the future). Mother B's bars were easy and very, very tasty. The Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies are "Nilla wafers". Remember them? The box cookies that, I guess are still around. They are small OK cookies. Well, the Pennsylvania Dutch Soft Sugar Cookies are those cookies only better, fresher, softer, better tasting. This cookie was comfort food to me.

I have received some lovely feedback. I am grateful people at church are eating them up and smiling. I am so enjoying this.

Today, Saturday, I made a double batch of Easy Coconut Drops. Half of these are earmarked for church coffee hour (a small part of the best church coffee hour ever) and half to take to a friend's house tonight. These came out great. To my great surprise the cookie count also came out perfectly. The recipe said 40 cookies per batch and lo and behold, the batter produced 80 cookies.

So hopefully next week I will kick my production up a notch.