It was one of those glum kind of days. I had boring paperwork to do and it was raw and miserable outside. I decided that as a reward for slogging through the tedium I would bake cookies (my classic, never fail, oatmeal chocolate chip faves) and have a night of cookies and TV in my pajamas. Somehow, although I have made this recipe a gazillion times, I overdid it with the oats and flour. They were dry and wouldn't stick together. I was suspicious about adding an egg and I wasn't sure about adding more butter at the end so I added a dollop of peanut butter. When I added walnuts I realized I had miscalculated there too, making the dough even drier and unmanageable. I was tempted to just dump the whole thing and run out for ice cream. Instead I decided to use the kitchen as my lab and see if things can be salvaged and become even better in the process. First I added more peanut butter.Things seemed to stick a little better. Then I threw in some raisins. If they weren't going to be my classic chocolate chip cookies why stop at the chocolate chips? They still felt too dry so I added a generous scoop of almond butter. I rolled things in my hands and started to feel better, tedious day and kitchen mishap notwithstanding. Sometimes you have to step back and look at what you are stressing over. It is rarely worth deep sighs and foot stamping. Usually you just need to take a deep breath and decide to enjoy the ride, even if the results seem to be going downhill fast. It is the act of doing that should really matter. If we just allow things to happen and not sweat it, our mistakes can end up being happy accidents and surprise victories.
This was not one of those times.
My cookies were a crumbly, hockey puck textured mess but I am still came away feeling rather Zen and like I had learned something (like read a recipe every now and then even if you think you know it like the back of your hand...).
