my husband's favorite chocolate chip cookies

My husband started his second year of law school last week and as per tradition (this one is two years strong, people) I made chocolate chip cookies to celebrate his first day. This is a tradition I intend to continue with my children as they begin their own schooling. My hope is to have warm cookies fresh out of the oven for them to look forward to when they walk in the door after their first day of school each fall. This particular recipe is my husband's favorite chocolate chip cookie. Not only are they good, but they're easy to make and the batch makes around 2 dozen, which means they disappear faster and I don't have them staring me in the face, tempting me to eat them every time I walk into the kitchen.

My Husband's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c unsalted butter, softened

1 c light brown sugar

3 T granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 c all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c milk chocolate chips

**Note: I usually use whatever chocolate chips I have on hand. So if I only have milk chocolate, I'll throw in 2 c and then add a little more because you can never have enough chocolate chips in your cookie.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 300 degrees. 

In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Bake at 300 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies have cracked. Let cookies sit on cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to cooling racks to finish cooling. 

08.12.15

Yesterday came and went, and with it we added another tally to the mark of years lived without him. Every year as this day approaches, my body has a way of reminding my mind that we are at this point again. Even when my mind has somehow forgotten that August 12th is slowly creeping up on us, my insides deep down begin to hurt and quickly remind my mind that we are here again. It's as if my body can never forget the hurt of this day and the events that took my dad from this life nine years ago. Nine years. I still can't believe it has been that long since we have seen his face or heard his voice. The thought that in just one more year we will have lived 10 years without him knocks the wind completely out of me.

As much as it hurts knowing that I've lived almost 10 years without my dad, the knowledge that Reese (and all of my future children) will never know their "Coach" in this life stings even more. And that's why I felt that sending love notes to him this year was needed. Reese loves balloons. And although she didn't understand the purpose of letting them fly up to heaven this year, I'm sure she will in years to come. The face on these kids' faces turned this day into a happy one. As we released the balloons an army of dragonflies magically appeared and flew in the sky with them. I heard recently that dragonflies have a deeper, more spiritual meaning and are often seen after the passing of a loved one. Yesterday I noticed them, and I can't help but feel that was a way of him saying, "I miss you too."

We love and miss you, Coach.

Welcome to the world, baby Taggart Jack