A woman brags to me, “I am sooo not domestic. I can’t even make Jello.” I reply, “I’m so sorry. Please tell me, how did you manage to get into law school?”
True or False: In order to be intelligent, a woman cannot possess any domestic skills.
There is something really messed up in a society where women are encouraged to play dumb in order to look smart. Our culture has so devalued the traditional role of wife and mother that those of us who choose to be homemakers (aw, how quaint) are usually lumped together with people of sub-par intelligence.
Yet, if a woman denies the ability to provide simple sustenance in the form of homemade cookies or gelatin dessert, we think, “Wow. She must really be sophisticated and intelligent. Important and successful.”
This way of thinking is based on faulty logic.
Have you ever read the side of a Jello box? If you have, you will have seen the simplest of culinary directions. Even if you choose to use the quick-set method with ice cubes, it will be almost impossible to mess up.
Which brings me to my final point: There are certain laws of the universe. They don’t change according to who’s doing the cooking. Chemistry is chemistry. No more excuses.
Okay, so with that out of the way, here’s a really good cookie recipe. If you can read and follow directions, you can bake cookies!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar (granulated)
1 lb. real margarine
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
Cream together above ingredients in a large bowl.
2 (12 oz.) bags milk chocolate chips
Mix in chocolate chips.
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
7 ½ cups flour
Combine dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Don't burn out your mixer's motor. You might need to finish mixing by hand. Pack dough into cookie or ice cream scoop. Flatten slightly with hands. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for nine minutes. Don't overbake. Cookies should appear slightly underdone. At least, that's how we like them.
I use a 2 1/2 inch ice cream scoop and get about 4 1/2 dozen large cookies. If you don't want that many, cut the recipe in half. Or do what I do so that you won't have to work so hard next time you want cookies. I form all of the dough with the scoop, freeze on a cookie sheet, then dump unbaked cookies into a ziplock freezer bag.
And oh yeah. For you sophisticated women: store ziplock in freezer. :)
B.T.W., I know there are also a lot of women who just plain aren't interested in cooking. I feel this way myself a lot of the time. Maybe some women think that playing dumb is a good way to get out of it. I'd rather just admit that I'm not interested than give the impression that I'm stupid.
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I came very close to giving up on cooking once upon a time...too much effort, too much mess, picky eaters, too little time, underappreciated, overworked, too small kitchen...whatever excuse my rebellious mind could conjure up. I'm so glad I outgrew that stage. I almost became one of those "I don't cook" people. Now I try to inspire my girls and my ward to cook (I'm the Enrichment counselor). But, alas, I still can't make a decent chocolate chip cookie to save my soul. I leave that to Jenna.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I did learn after 20 years how much more fun it is to cook for someone who really appreciates it. My son-in-law is fun to cook for when he raves over stuff we cook around here. His mom didn't cook. Marion is appreciative, but he just really doesn't care about food that much.