Last weekend I wrote about all the little things I planned to do to start the creative vibes rolling for the holidays. One of the activities I wanted to do was to get into the kitchen and do some baking. I LOVE to bake and I don’t do it as much as I’d like to. However, when I do get around to it I feel so happy. I think baking is so crazy romantic. I don’t know what it is but the butter, and flour and mixing everything together, I just think it’s beautiful. I’m a baker, but I am NOT a baker, if you know what I mean. I can’t be the blog-baker-girl who teaches you things I learned in baking school. I don’t know those things. I just know I enjoy doing it and. What I can do is show you what I see while I’m doing it, because I am the photography girl who went to school for that.

So here you go, this is my kitchen at sunset. The light was fading through my kitchen window. The winter candle was burning and I was in heaven just putting together my Toll House Recipe of chocolate chip cookies. I always use this recipe. Sometimes I use chopped chocolate, white chocolate, walnuts, candy, different nuts, or anything else I want to try. Sometimes I use half butter and half Crisco shortening because it makes the cookies fluffier.

I ALWAYS double the vanilla, because, duh… vanilla…

Anyway, I know the recipe by heart and I’m all about doubling it and making a ton of the same, or I split up the dough and add nuts for the second half or anything else I want. This is totally my go-to cookie recipe.

Enjoy! Try not to want cookies after you look at these pictures.

Eggs. I think they are so pretty, I take pictures of eggs often. I don’t know why, I think they’re so delicate and I love the texture and variety of colors.

Flour. I like the difference in the whites of the baking soda and salt against the flour.

Vanilla…

I said, vanilla… don’t you love the way it smells? I’m not talking about imitation vanilla, never ever do that.

Giant bag of chocolate chips. Sometimes these disappear before they can become part of a cookie, a trick I learned from my dad.

There is just something about dough in a mixer. What is it? I love it and I remember loving it when I was three years old!

I’m a very clean baker. This is the height of my mess.

I wish there was no such thing as salmonella…

I scoop cookies with a small Ice cream-type scooper. I can’t live without it.

It’s fast and clean and makes the perfect size cookie. You can buy these in all different sizes.

I like the light and chewy ones.

Steve likes the dark and crunchier ones.

Baking doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be good! Bake something!