December 18: Mexican White Chocolate Chip Cookies

"Mom? See those little, tiny clouds up there? I think God's up there with those little clouds, & He's telling all the good guys what to do." {Clayton}

And I discovered what my problem is with cookies today while I was elbow-deep in butter with a little helper on my hip. My issue is this: I tend to view recipes as "suggestions" instead of instructions to follow. I look at a recipe to get a vague idea of proportions, and then, thinking I know better, add a little more if this, a little less of that, and some other things I think will make it taste marvelous. 

And usually, with just a little dumb luck, it does taste better. At least I think it does, at any rate. But I suppose I don't really know because I never made the original recipe to have a true comparison. Anyways, there are probably certain types of recipes, cookies for instance, where you are more likely to screw it up if you vear off the beaten path.

But I'm probably both prideful and stubborn, because I did it again today. But today, however, I came up with something marvelously tasty. :) We will call them Mexican White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Mexican White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup {2 sticks} butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter & sugar in a mixer until light & fluffy. Add the vanilla & the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition & scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Combine the dry ingredients & add them gradually until fully incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Place dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet by the spoonful. Bake for ten minutes. Allow to cool for a minute on the sheet after removing from the oven, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!!