Rainy Day Baking.

The weather the past five days or so has been killing me. When I wake up in the morning and pull the mini-blinds back up and draw the curtains aside, this is what I see:

It was actually a beautiful sight the first day, mostly because rainy skies always give me an excuse to stay inside and wrap myself in furry blankets. Ahhh the comfort of it all. :)

But four days later I wake up to find that my spirits have slowly withered away. So no, Seattle, I cannot live in you ever. And England? Forget about you! And Ketchikan, Alaska, the city that rains 360 days out of the year? You don't even deserve to be mentioned in this post, so I'm not sure why I haven't hit the backspace key yet... ... ...ANYWAY.

If there is one thing I know, it is that baking can raise my spirits in no time! Baking is like baking powder/yeast/baking soda/and any other leavening agent for my mood. But in my humble opinion, the following conditions need to be met in order for baking to reach its optimum level of "Awesome":

• A clean kitchen. Nothing beats working on ample amounts of sparkling clean counter-space.
• Great music. On this last baking adventure I had some Rend Collective playing. I was in the mood for something uplifting and inspirational, (obviously).
• Hair up. I reeeeeally cannot stand my hair being in my face while I'm baking.
• Apron. I have a tiny collection of somewhat "pricey" aprons, but my favourite in the whole world is my little red and white checkered tie-around-the-waist apron. I bought it at a thrift store for $0.75, and I love it so much! And believe it or not, I actually use my apron, I'm constantly wiping my hands all over it.

A few months ago I wrote out a "Baking To-Do" list, cakes, cookies, tarts, pies, pastries, ect., that I have always wanted to try at home on my own. And FINALLY I can scratch something off the list:

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies!

If there is any cookie recipe that I could recommend for its true simplicity and delicious outcome, it would be these! And I of course doubled it, because that is just what I do. ;)

I baked these yesterday afternoon and to my pleasant surprise, when I took one from the cookie jar (a.k.a. the dollar store tupperware container) they were still super soft. I love that!

If there is one thing I would change about this recipe though, it would be to substitute the almond extract with more vanilla extract. There is something about almond extract that I just...don't fancy. The smell, maybe? This is all personal and subjective opinion of course!

Oh, and Jarryd LOVED these--lucky for him because they're going in his lunches for like the next three weeks. :P

I found the recipe for these cookies Here at AllRecipes.com by a wonderful person named "Mary".

My golden rule for finding the perfect recipe online whether it's for cooking or baking, is type into Google search: 

"____(Name of Dish You Want to Make)____ allrecipes".

You will find results from the AllRecipes website that have ratings of 4/5 stars with hundreds if not thousands of reviews. THOSE are the recipes you want to make, because they are the tried and true ones. They are the recipes that have been tested out in thousands of home kitchens by thousands of people. If the dishes turned out amazing for that many people, then it will turn out amazing for you too! This is why I rarely use recipes from Pinterest because they haven't been tested out by the masses; and personally, I just don't have the energy nor finances to cook/bake a meal that has a high chance of failing.

(Also, AllRecipes includes professional helpful step-by-step videos with all of their popular recipes)!

So in conclusion, if you're in the mood for a little baking, you should take this recipe out on the town! These cookies are so so so good! :)