You need to make chocolate chip cookies today, because today is Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

It’s also the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women.

Of the two, the latter is by far the more important. The myrrhbearing women were the first to know that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They were the first to be commissioned to share the news of the Resurrection. They are therefore honored as the Apostles to the Apostles.

So I feel like I should be writing about the myrrhbearing women today. But, in all honesty, I’ve tried to come up with something interesting to say about them, and I can’t. So rather than write something dreadful, I decided that I would give you my recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

If you spend the afternoon making chocolate chip cookies with a child, you can talk about the myrrhbearing women while the cookies bake. That will let you keep both days. That seems like a good thing to do.

Tools You Should Have to Make Cookies

None of these are essential, but I use all of them. They make cookie-making easier, and you get better results.

  • A stand mixer
  • Cookie dough scoops (they look like miniature ice-cream scoops)
  • Insulated cookie sheets
  • Parchment paper to line the cookie sheets
  • Cooling racks

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Whisk the flour, bran, soda, and salt together in a small bowl.

Beat the butter and sugars together until light and creamy. Add the vanilla extract. Then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Now add the flour mixture, about a third of it at a time. Scrape down the sides after each addition, and scrape the bottom of the bowl, too, to make sure that all of the flour gets incorporated into the dough.

Stir in the chocolate chips. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you’ll want to do this by hand.

Using your 1-tablespoon cookie scoop or two teaspoons, scoop the dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Slide the whole parchment sheet of cookies onto the cooling rack and let them firm up a bit before you remove them from the parchment. Let them cool completely on the rack.

Enjoy your chocolate chip cookies!

Read More

Recipes for Pascha and St. Nicholas Day: Pascha and St. Nicholas Day both call for loads of yummy home-made treats.

Have a St. Nicholas party in July!: Because we celebrate St. Nicholas all year round, any time is a good time to have a St. Nicholas party!

Buy the Books!

Catherine's Pascha and The Saint Nicholas Day Snow
These delightfully diverse books provide disability representation (Elizabeth, one of the main characters, is an ambulatory wheelchair user). They also give Orthodox Christian children the rare opportunity to see themselves in books, and children who are not Orthodox the chance to see cultural practices they may not be familiar with.

Catherine’s Pascha

FINALIST IN THE 2015 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS
Catherine doesn’t like vegetables. She doesn’t like naps. She doesn’t like it when her mom combs her hair. She loves hot dogs, chocolate cake, and her best friend, Elizabeth. Most of all, she loves Pascha! Pascha, the Orthodox Christian Easter, is celebrated in the middle of the night, with processions and candles and bells and singing. And Catherine insists that she’s not a bit sleepy.

Celebrate the joy of Pascha through the magic of a book: Catherine’s Pascha. Available on Amazon, Bookshop.org, and my webstore.

The Saint Nicholas Day Snow

Shoes or stockings? Horse or sleigh? Does St. Nicholas visit on December 6 or on Christmas Eve? Will a little girl’s prayer be answered? When Elizabeth has to stay at Catherine’s house, she’s worried about her grandmother, and worried that St. Nicholas won’t find her. The grownups, though, are worried about snow.

Celebrate the wonder of St. Nicholas Day through the magic of a book: The Saint Nicholas Day Snow. Available on Amazon, Bookshop.org, or my webstore.