Cookie Discontent

Hi Rachel: I've got a confession to make. When I saw your chocolate chip cookies last week, I had a little freak-out moment: They looked better than mine. This, of course, is not the way the world order is supposed to go. The mother is supposed to be the superior cook until she dies; then the daughter can become better at something. Didn't you get this memo?

While my cookies are pretty damn good, yours, which you posted about here, look lumpier and thicker while mine have been a little flat lately, as this photo attests.

Don't get me wrong. Mine are more than edible (added cranberries this time, which was a nice contrast to the dark chocolate). But they're not lumpy and thick the way they once were. It's that "once were" part that's so annoying. Am I losing my chocolate chip cookie grip? Is this the first sign of the beginning of the end?

I suspect the flatness is because I've gotten kind of lazy and microwave my butter to soften it rather than really plan ahead and let it soften naturally. But still, it's bugging me and I just want you to know that while you're busy going to school and taking care of M and becoming a new mother and all that, I am plotting my cookie revenge. (Any readers who want to offer me advice should feel free to weigh in. We all know you want me to win.) Some day, when you least expect it, there will be a chocolate chip cookie post and I will be the cookie queen again.