Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites and a New Pillow

Today my lovely sister, Jamie is guest posting with another quick and easy recipe! Lillie and I cannot wait to try these! Anyway, here is Jamie:

If you don't like cookie dough, this recipe isn't for you. For those of you who aren't crazy, read on. My obsession with cookie dough has a long history. Let's begin with my formative years, when getting to have a special baking date with Moose (then known as “Mommy”) was akin to winning the lottery in our family. Since baking with all four of her devious lick-sneaking children was not an option, we took turns getting to sit on the counter and wait for that highly anticipated moment when Mom would turn her back to melt the butter in the microwave and a golden opportunity to raid the dough would finally appear. This was a highly coveted position, so much so that I dropped out of preschool to increase my prospective baking dates.

Years later, Jenni and I stirred up controversy when we opted out of a family bike ride because we both had a bug and weren't up for the exercise, and ended up baking and sampling batter all afternoon. (Apparently, cookie dough isn't the best remedy for the common cold). My fondness for dough took a dark turn on the slippery slope towards obsession when I left home for my first semester of college. Homesick and less than enamored of cafeteria food, I would eat cookie dough by the roll. (It was also a great learning tool. While doing homework in my dorm room, I would tell myself one more bite at the end of this page...for all twenty pages of a reading assignment.)

Thankfully, my dependency on cookie dough eased a great deal when I returned home from my one and only semester in Virginia, and the next few years were spent under my parents' watchful eyes as I commuted to a nearby college. Then, three years ago this spring, I made a shocking move and married someone who prefers Fig Newtons to Oreos (a transgression for which my brother feels he should be institutionalized), someone who turns down Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Therapy in favor of....I shudder to say it...no-brand Mocha Chip. While you might think that this yogurt-eating, orange-peeling, apple-munching man would prove a good influence on my eating habits, you would be sadly mistaken. Although he is very vigilant at the grocery store when we go shopping together—I am not encouraged to go by myself, as the one time this happened I came home with several delightful new chocolatey treats to try out—he is less watchful at home, and doesn't chide me as my parents once did at the sight of hot fudge on an ice cream flavor that is made up of several layers of chocolate.

Recently, I was explaining my new decision to lead a healthier lifestyle to my siblings while I was face-timing Lillie on Jenni's phone, and my brother caught a glimpse of the screen and called me out on the fact that I was eating packaged cookie dough whilst I made this resolution. I confess: it gets the best of me sometimes. The problem is, I fell in love with cookie dough when I just a preschool dropout, and they say you never forget your first love...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Time: 1 hour
Makes: 2 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
6 ounces mini chocolate chips (I used Toll House semi-sweet)

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well- I used a beater on low.

3. Roll into 1-inch balls.

 4. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Dip in chocolate, drizzle with chocolate, or eat as is! (I MUCH prefer it dipped, but Jason liked it better drizzled).
5. Store in the refrigerator and pop one in your mouth every time you pass through the kitchen!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it is from family.com.

And today we have another new Easter pillow cover available:

Also, we were cutting silhouettes like crazy yesterday to keep the cream ones in stock and were able to keep adding them in as they sold out and we have more available today if you missed them yesterday morning when they first sold out.

Have a wonderful weekend!