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Homemade Chocolate Chips

Since you all followed my Goin' Crunchy 2011 updates with such interest, I feel compelled to give a full account of the homemade chocolate chips we made.  As I said earlier, they were absolutely divine in taste, and if I hadn't overcooked the brownies I put them in that weekend by 20 minutes (oops), I think they would have melted nicely into the brownie batter for an extra chocolate kick.  Laura did warn that they would melt if used in cookies, but seemed to indicate that they would simply turn the otherwise normal cookie into a chocolate cookie.

Not so (for me).

The chips were melting already at room temperature, and they caused the cookies to spread horribly almost immediately upon entering the oven.  I should've taken a picture of that first batch, but they were so flat and unappealing that we (Isaac and I) just ate them all right away.  (That was the correct response, right?)

Ever the quick thinker, Isaac suggested we try the next batch in muffin tins, so that at least the spreading would be contained, even if the cookie didn't turn out much better.  I also put the bowl of dough in the fridge while each batch was baking, to keep it a bit more solidified.  This helped -- we have small muffin-shaped cookies, as you'll see below -- but still didn't make for very pretty cookies.

I'd love to tell you they tasted great, but the fact is, they were purposefully healthy cookies made with oats and honey and whole wheat flour, and I was out of vanilla extract so we used almond, and they were a disappointment.  (Especially disappointing since Isaac had offered to get Graeter's, and I insisted on making a healthier treat instead.)

Nonetheless, here's what we ended up with:


Weird, huh.  I guess I'll just have to keep sneaking the frozen chocolate chips out of the freezer one at a time during the boys' naps . . .

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