The day of 24 dozen cookies

As usual, I find time to bake the cookies, but I never get around to writing about them. So again, I have two batches to write about. Mike and I have been looking at open houses lately - we have time before we NEED to buy, but if one pops up that we both love, we want to be ready to jump on it. In order to be ready, our current house needs to be ready to sell. I know, we just finished the kitchen, we already finished the basement, we made the bedroom into a sanctuary, we remodeled the bathrooms and we added more storage than one could ever possibly believe we have. What else is there you ask? The roof. So in typical Larson fashion, we arranged a weekend work crew composed of siblings and uncles to tear off the old and put on a new. On a weather sensitive project, trying to have everything ready and arranged can be a bit stressful. I was the ground crew who had to make sure the shingles got to the dumpster, and anticipate the needs of the roofers so that whatever they happened to need at any given moment - it'd be right there waiting for them. Plus, I had to make sure their was lunch and more importantly, donuts and mountain dew. As usual, the uncles and my dad swore that this is the last roof they will do. And as my sister Jenny pointed out "Aww, it's a typical roofing weekend, everyone is yelling at each other." With that said, I felt I owed something to all those who came to help, which brings me to cookie batch #34. I thought about making six different kinds of cookies (that's how many people helped out) and mixing all the cookies together so everyone got a variety. Then I decided to not be crazy and just look in the big batch bonanza section of my cookie cookbook and pick one from there. It had to be a batch with m&m's in it, because that is what my nieces and nephews wanted (their dad is the one who did the roofing, however 2 year old Eddie was pretty good at carrying shingles to the bucket). In my Big Batch Bonanza section of the cookbook, I found a cookie that has m&m's and makes 24 dozen - perfect - each person would get 4 dozen. 4/21/12 #34 Chunky Oatmeal Cookies I started this batch at 12:00 in the afternoon. I baked until I had to leave for my niece's birthday party - 3 hours later. By that time, I had about 14 dozen done. When I returned home, I baked for another hour and a half. 24 dozen cookies take a long time to bake. However, I think they were a hit. Uncle Reid got his batch right away. Three days later when Mike saw my other Uncles at "therapy" (the bar where the men in my family like to meet every week) he wanted to know where his cookies were. Fortunately I sent them with Mike - but then my Uncle Reid claimed that the other Uncles got more. Sheesh - you would think a bagful of cookies would be enough. And they all did get the same amount, I counted them out. Now one of the biggest batches in the book is done. There is one batch that makes 26 dozen cookies - maybe the next roof we have to have done, I'll make those. 5/12/12 Batch #35 Mom's Soft Raisin Cookies It occurred to me that it is Mother's day tomorrow and that I would be a bad daughter and bad daughter-in-law if I did absolutely nothing - and I don't think I can count on Mike to do anything for his Mom, other than maybe call her - so I turned to what seems to always makes everyone happy - their own batch of cookies. What better cookie to celebrate mothers' day with than a cookie called: "Mom's soft raisin cookies" . Granted my mother-in-law will not get them tomorrow as I just baked them today and we have to mail them, but I hope the saying "it's the thought that counts" applies here. These are yummy cookies - they are really soft with just a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon in it. Also, the key is to cook the raisins in a cup of water to get the raisins really soft. I'm all caught up now. Happy Mothers Day!