why use raisins?

Despite hailing from Long Island, home of mean girls more vile than Regina George, I like to consider myself a pretty sweet girl – though not as sweet as the batch of cookies I baked last night could have been! I am far from skilled in the kitchen. While I dabble in sautéing, since its more of a creative art than an exact procedure (I hate the idea of measuring and always opt for extra garlic), I never dare attempt the science known as baking. Until now. As a part of my internship, I had to create a movie outlining my experiences. Along with a team of an Indian, a Sri Lankan, an Italian, and me, the Irish, we created what was a pretty fantabulous film, made all the more better due to some minor assistance from the Reuters news team. Working their magic with their fancy FinalCut software, they took our collection of clips to the next level, making my team and I very pleased with the end product. So, I thought there was no better way to thank the duo than by whipping up a yummilicious batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. From scratch.

What was I thinking? I can barely handle slice and bake! (RIP Tollhouse? I do hope we can all bask in the glory of raw cookie dough again some day, sans salmonella.) Upon arriving home, the mother hen and I trekked out to load up on ingredients and bonded over Brooklyn real estate while we shopped for vanilla extract, light brown sugar, and other cookie staples. When I finally got home to begin the baking process, I was dangerously close to mistaking powdered sugar for flour, and was about to add the fine powder to my pasty mixture of butter and regular sugar before my baketress of a sister literally pulled my hand away from the bowl, just seconds before I would have make the cookies far too sweet for their own good. Thankfully, they came out in delicious chunks of oatmeal chocolate chip goodness, making me a true hit at the office today!

Have a splendid weekend, everyone! I'll be BBQing poolside with my shades on!