A New Chef in the Kitchen: Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I remember walking into the doctor's office this past July, sporting a small baby bump and a nervous smile. I had made an evening appointment so Brad could be there to see our little one and we were excited to find out whether we'd be having a he or a she.

Those first few images melted our hearts. A beautiful little profile, a sweet hand waving at us, all five fingers in their right place. 

And then the moment we were waiting for.....it was a GIRL! 

We were having an Emma. 

As we climbed into the car, I had a twinge of sadness. For months, we'd been flip flopping between daydreams for a boy and daydreams for a girl. As our car left the parking lot, I mentally said goodbye to Jack and started imagining life with my girlie. 

Her room would be yellow and gray. She'd have my green eyes and her daddy's tender heart. We'd push her on the swing in the back yard and dance with her in the kitchen. We'd teach her to love blueberry pie and homemade dill pickles. She'd help me bake all sorts of things. My own little sous-chef. 

In the wee hours of December 7th, I was awakened by a twinge across my abdomen. Something I hadn't quite felt before. I lay there for a minute, did a mental "huh" and went back to sleep. Over breakfast, as Brad prepared for work and I made his lunch, I casually mentioned that I thought I was having contractions. "Really??" Brad replied. "Well, call me if I need to come home." And he waved himself out the door. 

Twelve hours later we were making our way to the hospital, a nervous soon-to-be-daddy dodging traffic, a groaning soon-to-be-mommy in the front seat and an excited soon-to-be-grammy texting the world from the backseat. 

Two minutes into December 8th, I gave one last push and our little baby entered the world. 

The doctor gave a gasp and exclaimed, "It's a boy!" 

What?

It's hard to describe the chaos of those moments. My look of complete shock. The laughter of the nurses and doctors. My mother-in-law jumping with glee. The nurses asking if we had a name picked out. Calling family and friends with the surprising news. My little boy, laying in my arms, looking up at me with big, brown eyes set into the most perfect, puffily wrinkled face. My son. My own little Jack. 

Since then, we've fully adjusted to a family of three. Dad, Mom and Baby Boy. The nursery is no longer yellow and gray, but sports grassy green walls, clad with pictures of cleverly winking foxes. The sweet dresses have been replaced by oh-so-handsome sweater onesies and miniature man-wear. 

And the dreams of my little sous-chef have changed slightly, from a green-eyed girl to a brown-eyed boy. And I'm completely okay with that. 

What I thought I wanted,

What I got instead,

Leaves me broken and grateful

~Sara Groves~

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

When I made these for my care group, they said they tasted like brownies in cookie form!

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups plus 2 T. flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

14 T. butter

1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 T. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg plus 1 yolk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (sigh...yes, this is a pain, but I've come to the conclusion that cookies really ARE better when baked on parchment paper). Place granulated sugar in a shallow dish and set aside.

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl.

Microwave 12 T. of the butter in large bowl until melted, then add remaining 2 T. of cold butter to the melted butter. Let it sit for 5 minutes. (This is to cool the melted butter a little. You want it to be around 90 to 95 degrees. If butter is too hot, then cookies will spread too much in the oven)

Whisk brown sugar, vanilla and salt into melted butter until no lumps remain.

Then whisk in the egg and egg yolk.

Finally, stir in the flour until just combined.

Using 2 T. of dough at a time, roll dough into balls (this is when it's really handy to have one of those cookie scoops!). Then roll cookie balls in the granulated sugar until coated. Place on cookie sheet.

Using the bottom of a drinking glass, flatten cookies to a 2-inch diameter.

Sprinkle cookies with a little remaining sugar.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are slightly puffy and edges are beginning to set, about 15 minutes. Rotate cookies halfway through baking to help them bake evenly. Cookies may look slightly underdone, but this is good....it makes them chewy! Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes, before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Cook's Country