Cookie Baking, Day 3

Thus far?  I've got:

-- 4 dozen brownie bites:  triple chocolate, fudgy brownies baked in a mini-muffin tin -- still have yet to frost them, though, but I'll get there.  More of those to bake today.

-- Slightly less than 8 dozen chocolate chip cookie cups with Hershey kisses stuck in the center.  Wow, are these good (and evil!  hence the slightly less, since Mr. ReddHedd discovered these.).

It's just chocolate chip cookie dough, pulled out of the bowl in a big heaping tablespoon-sized chunk, and plopped into a mini-muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray, and then baked at 350 F for 15 minutes or so.  You pull it out of the oven, plop an unwrapped Hershey's chocolate kiss in the center, and then pop it back into the oven for another 4 minutes or so until they are mostly set.  Then take the pans out, and cool cookies in the pan on a wire rack for 12 minutes or so, then remove from the pans and cool the rest of the way on wire racks.  (Trust me on the in-pan cooling time first -- these are tender and will fall apart, which is great for eating the mistakes but not so great if you are trying to make cookies for gifts.  So don't skimp on the cooling time in the pans.)

-- 6 dozen incredibly potent fudgy rum balls.  I make these from an amazing Emeril recipe and they are fantastic.  But only if you like rum.  If you don't?  I'd skip this recipe.  But if you like rum?  These are heaven.  Seriously.


And that's it so far.  I haven't gotten any of my refrigerator cookie dough made -- that has to get done today so I can bake those up Friday and Saturday.  I also have to make more brownies today, so they'll be cooled and ready to frost.

Most important?  There has to be a big batch of snickerdoodle dough so The Peanut and I can bake those together, probably on Saturday.

And I have some white chocolate-coconut-macadamia candy I wanted to try making this year that sounded super tasty.  Along with spiced molasses cookies and pecan-toffee sandies and...well, there just aren't enough hours in the day, are there?

This year, my mantra is as follows:  do what you can, and stop trying to be so frigging perfect so you can enjoy the ride.  It's my new personal philosophy -- swiped from Ben Stein, of all people -- "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

Or at least the "good enough" anyway.  Now off to bake some more cookies...

(Photo via SisterMaryEris.)