my tip for becoming a really good mom

learn to bake really good cookies.

yep, folks that is it.

bake yummy cookies

for your kids

with your kids.

admittedly i come from and married into families who show love through food. it's just what we do. food is love. love is food. and love makes real good food y'all.

so baking cookies for my girls, well it is just naturally my love language.

i started baking cookies early on with miss ellie. she could pull out all the ingredients for chocolate chips cookies at about age 2. miss cece successfully cracked her first egg right around her second birthday as well. miss maggie learned not long after her first birthday that the best seat in the house is on the counter next to the cookie dough.

we have spent a lot of time of the last 10+ years baking cookies. we have tried new recipes, we have made some really awful cookies, made some really yummy cookies, burnt a batch or two, perfected the perfect chocolate chip cookie, we have learned to double recipes, learned what certain ingredients do, even dropped a whole dozen eggs on the kitchen floor

we have spent time together baking cookies.

a few years ago we figured out a fail proof chocolate chip cookie recipe. i felt like i had arrived as a mother. i could whip those cookies up in a few minutes, bake them up and bam happiness in a cookie. then i realized it really wasn't about the cookies. it was about the act and the time and what the cookie meant. love. it was something i could do for my girls.

and i am not gonna lie when you hear your oldest handing out cookies to the neighbor kids saying "my mom makes the best chocolate chip cookies" it feels pretty darn good.

i do have a few actual tips for baking really good cookies.

my cookie baking tips
#1. have a good recipe. i have found that these chewy chocolate chip cookies are simply the best. these soft baked monster cookies are pretty yummy as well.

#2. a cookie scoop. a cookie scoop helps make your cookies uniform in size and shape. not only does it look nice to have them all look the same, but it helps with even baking.

#3. silicone mats or parchment paper. i have found when i line my cookie sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper the cookie just turn out way better. it helps prevent burnt and hard bottoms on your cookies. you don't have to grease the pan and the cookies don't stick. also it make clean up a breeze.

now do i think that in order to be a good mom you have to bake yummy cookies.

no.

absolutely not.

but do i feel strongly that as a mother you need to find that one thing.

that one thing.

that one thing you do consistently for and with your children that makes you happy and brings you joy.

that makes them happy and brings them joy.

that you can do together.

spend time together doing.

letting all the other stuff fall away.

i think that is the secret of being a good mom.

you don't have to do everything good. you just have to find that one safe place full of happiness and joy. bring you kids into it with you. and have fun.

for me it's baking cookies.