Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke
Today, a minor household emergency occurred. I ran out of cookies. So, I made my own cookies.
During the summer, I deliberately keep a small supply of calorie-dense snacks around because I have difficulty maintaining my weight when my physical activity increases. Between running, exercise, and mowing our steep lawn, I can burn through more energy than I manage to replace. Cookies have therefore acquired an unusually respectable position in my nutritional strategy.
I don’t eat large quantities at once. Normally, I have one small cookie here and there to add a few extra calories without dramatically increasing the amount of food I need to eat. At least, that is the theory.
With my weekly cookie supply officially depleted, I decided that instead of buying another package, I would try making my own. I found a recipe online for brown butter cookies and modified the batch with both white and semi-sweet chocolate chips, along with walnuts.
They turned out extremely well. Possibly too well. My original plan of eating one small cookie at a time immediately encountered an operational failure when I ate three in rapid succession.
Apparently, quality control required multiple samples. My wife tried one as well and said it was very good. This is a more significant endorsement than it might sound. She enjoys good food, but she isn’t particularly enthusiastic about sweets. So when she compliments a cookie, I take the review seriously.
Now we face the real challenge. Can we make this batch last an entire week? Considering how quickly the first few disappeared, the outlook is uncertain.
Fortunately, we have enough ingredients to make another couple of batches, and the recipe is definitely good enough to keep. The next time the cookie supply reaches dangerously low levels, I know exactly what to do.
Of course, homemade cookies have introduced a slight flaw into my carefully controlled weight-maintenance strategy. Store-bought cookies are easy to ration. Fresh brown butter cookies sitting in the kitchen are considerably more persuasive. If this batch doesn’t survive the week, I suppose I’ll simply have to make another.
For health reasons, naturally.