Yeah cookies are deceptive. Don't be tempted to over bake them - most cookies harden up as they cool.

Oh! and I have a food processor! I plan on using it.

Set your butter out on the counter to soften. You don't want it too soft or melted, but it should give a little. Make sure your baking sheet is cool; don't set it on the stovetop while the oven preheating. Also, follow the directions of mixing dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and then mixing them, if you're baking from scratch.

Happy baking! Let us know how they turn out.

I kinda ruined my first batch by using TABLESPOONS rather than TEASPOONS in measuring them out, so they came out kinda big and soft and cakey. Second batch is coming out now!

they need more time. Bittman says 10 min but it's more like 12. I'm taking them out the instant the sides go dark brown. They've got a lot of chewy bits (and the mix was a little more watery than I would have liked, so I figure they can take a little more time.

the funny thing is I don't even *like* cookies all that much. I just awoke with a burning desire to make them.

Cheers to you for making those cookies, The Whelk. It's so fantastic when people get an unexpected urging to do something new and actually follow it up. It's way too easy to ignore what seems like a fleeting feeling, when in reality it's a new experience that in its small way will affect your wellbeing. Call me schmoopy, but your story makes me really happy.

okay Schmoopy!

they are! a little underdone! sugary but kinda cakey, but with chunks of gooey niceness. I think I should've used whole milk. Oh well! Off to fob them off on unsuspecting doormen and bartenders!

Yay for cookies!

I just baked cookies from scratch for the first time ever today. I adapted the ginger cookie recipe from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food, using lots of fresh minced ginger instead of candied ginger, and adding some lemon rind and fresh juice. They're pretty tasty, although they do spread a lot when baking. I broke out our ancestral Christmas cookie cutters so I could have stars, trees, reindeer and angels, but they look more like amoeba, amoeba, amoeba and amoeba.

Next year: more lemon, more fresh ginger and some allspice!

The Whelk, now you got me making cookies too. These bad boys. Cheap and fast and amazing!

clearly I am the cookie first mover.

Holy shit, Whelk. I had also never made cookies, and got that same urge 2 days ago. I did mostly everything right, then left the cookies in the oven and went to play Uncharted... and what was supposed to be 8 minutes turned into 18... they burned a little, but where still edible.

Will try to make some again today for a Christmas party.