Last year I was busy from the moment I woke up, until I wasn’t anymore. Sometimes I’d leave my apartment at 8 a.m. and wouldn’t get back until 11 p.m. I’d start out my mornings answering emails, then I’d attend classes, go to meetings, lead meetings, edit, do homework, study, go to education placements, answer questions from my staffers and try to find time to be a human in between.
It was exhausting.
My only true reprieve was the one to two hours each day when I cooked dinner for my roommates and friends. Some days that felt like a chore; an inconvenience, why on earth would I stop working? But most days, the kitchen was my sanctuary. I’d put on my headphones and let my hands do the work.
Eventually, I started to make food when I was stressed and needed a break I didn’t want to take. It was the best way to turn my brain off for a bit and put my energy into something else that wasn’t graded, edited or published. I’d leave the kitchen feeling refreshed and energized, ready to take on whatever tasks were thrown at me.
This semester, I’m student teaching at Marshall High School, which comes with its own set of challenges and stressors. The key difference is I have more time, which feels super strange. I get up a little earlier these days, starting my day at 6 a.m. and ending around 3 p.m. But after that, I’m done. Aside from the weekly seminar and Pleiad meeting, my evenings are free – no more club meetings, no more editing. The only homework I have is the stuff I have to grade, and I try to get as much of that done before I leave the school as possible.
I still have plenty to do at home, there’s chores and lesson planning. But that time is unstructured, so I set my own schedule – which I love – but sometimes find myself sitting and doing nothing to relax, rather than something fulfilling.
Which brings me to the curation of this column: Procrastibaking With Bakeman (procrastinating and baking, it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?).
I love to bake from scratch; there’s nothing else like it. I love the exactness of it; you have to be diligent about following the recipe. But then, as you get more comfortable with it, you can change small things to improve it.
So, for this column, I’m going to bake something delicious, write about what I should be doing instead or how it’s helping me figure something out and share the recipe with you.
Now, I hate scrolling down forever through ads and personal statements to get to the recipe as much as you do, so I linked the recipe card right at the top. Whether or not you choose to get tips and tricks from me while reading about my life is your prerogative – I’m not your teacher.
This week, I had a really hard Monday and to make myself feel better, I made chocolate chip cookies. Not because I wanted to eat them, but because they’re my mom’s favorite. Well, they’re everyone’s favorite. But I wanted to smell something that she’d make me, to feel comforted and warm. The best part of procrastibaking though, is sharing what you’ve made. I gave some to my roommates, mentor teachers and other teachers at the school. Here’s how I did it:
1. First, preheat your oven to 360 F. Not a typo, trust me.
2. Cream your softened butter (if it’s cold, throw it in the microwave for 10 seconds), sugar and brown sugar until it’s nice and fluffy. This should take about three minutes with a mixer, longer with a whisk.
3. Add your eggs and vanilla, then beat for an additional two-ish minutes on medium. It should look like this:
4. Next, add your dry ingredients. Fresh baking soda and powder is a must; I keep mine in the fridge. I prefer coarse salt, but it doesn’t really matter. I tend to add the flour last because it’s the largest measurement. Mix until fully incorporated. It should look like this:
5. Add the chocolate chips – yes, a whole bag. Nobody wants a chocolate chip-less cookie. Use a spatula to mix them in until they’re well distributed in the batter.
6. I usually use a medium sized cookie scoop, but I forgot it at home so I eyeballed it. I always use parchment paper, it’s a game changer. Mine looked like this:
7. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove them from the oven, leave them on the parchment paper for a little while and then transfer them to a cooling rack. If you don’t have one, a plate works just fine.
8. Once they’re cool enough to eat, try one warm. There is nothing like a warm chocolate chip cookie when you’ve had a bad day.
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