Who has a teen out there? Or has vivid memories of one that recently left home… raise your hand. And was it a girl? Because they are hands down different than boys. Dramatic, emotional, funny, spunky, stubborn, wonderful, frustrating… and so on. Did you ever have round robin sort of conversations like this?
Me: “Hey Chloe- you did awesome this morning getting out on time. Thanks.”
Chloe: “Yeah, that’s cause you didn’t nag me.”
Me: “That’s because you were up and on time. And I really appreciated it.”
Chloe: “Well… It’s because you didn’t nag me.”
Me: “I didn’t nag you because I didn’t have to. You got up and you were ready.”
Chloe: “And that iiissss because you didn’t nag me.”
Me: “Well isn’t it great when I don’t nag and you are up and out on time.”
Chloe: ” ”
Whatcha gonna do! EAT COOKIES. Now that’s a close up.
Bottom line is I’ve gotten to be a bit of a stickler about time. A far cry from my upbringing… sorry mom. And island time isn’t helping. I am trying to maintain promptness out of a desire to achieve self discipline and respect for whom I’m to meet and where at said time. I want to thank O for helping me to reform. The German folks are on time. It’s neither a discussion nor a consideration. It just is. The first beat of music at our exercise class fell on the stroke of 9am…. Sorry Ronna- it’s not your fault. 7pm dinner date at a friend’s house and the doorbell finished ringing before 7.01pm… Drinks and nibbles on the table and a hostess with no rings of sweat or signs of panic. Now there were times where I’d get a call from a coffee date who was stuck in traffic but the call always occurred before the scheduled meeting time.
To all my peeps out there in “real time” reading this, don’t worry, I’m far from perfect. And it is not like everybody has to meet these expectations. They are self expectations. For me it’s about staying focused. Not filling the ten minutes I have before leaving for an appointment with twenty minutes of something else. Say “duh” in unison. It’s simple right? No. I’ve found being on time also eliminates another layer of stress in life. Rushing. It just doesn’t feel good in my body anymore. (Side note: In my perfect world, I can be on time and also not judge or stress if the other person or event doesn’t occur exactly on time.)
What does this have to do with cookies. hmmmmm. not much. Well except Chloe and I totally, completely, utterly agree on our love for these salted almond cookies inspired by my latest fave of chocolate bars. Salted Almond Chocolate. I love Chocolove’s Dark Salted Almond even though they are only 55%. And although Theo chocolates aren’t always a favorite, I do like their salted almond bar and it’s a 70%. I bought several bars to take photos of and ate them all trying to compare and forgot to take photos. I didn’t like the comparison. I went with the sweeter chocolove. But not eaten simultaneously, I love each’s own uniqueness. Maybe I’ll buy more tomorrow (just to avoid having to take pics off the web… ahem).
We’ve made several batches of these. The latest were done in mini fashion. So when I, you, eat nine or twelve, we’ve really only had three or four. You saw these briefly with the Starry Starry nights. The recipe is so basic. It’s like my biggest “go to” even before my pie crust. It’s Betty’s recipe. Here’s the half version if you don’t want to make 4 dozen (or 8 doz if they are minis). I do a mix of bittersweet chips, semi sweet chips and milk chocolate chips. I read somewhere that was clever. There is a stronger hit on your taste buds. I used 1 1/2 cups of slivered almonds. I rolled mini balls and topped each with a dash of brown sugar and a couple crystals of Maldon sea salt. I’m linking you to a company called Saltworks. I carried their products in my store and love everything they do. And I like that the company was homegrown… and now just moved into a 100,000 sq ft facility. Insane.
These make great holiday gifts and as I’ve mentioned a hundred times, keep some dough balls in the freezer and you’ll have little nibbles with your tea and coffee for surprise visits. Which I love.
Happy days during the holiday you celebrate,
Tschüß,
One year ago: Iron Maiden
Wendy's Place 
Gorgeous little cookie niblets and great little life lessons. Salted choc & slmond is a fsil proof combination too!
My dad is one who’s usually insanely early. My mum is usually a little late and I am somewhere in between 😉
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I think the in between is the place to be. We can’t get enough of these cookies!
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Wow … some nibbling planned over the Christmas I can see. Wonderful. I like the idea about keeping the dough in small balls in the freezer.
All teens are like your daughter … I was like that once – and I’m sure you had your moments … too. *smile
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Oh I’m sure I did too. I can’t remember them though and probably neither can my mom. And neither will Chloe or I. She’s a great human and I’m thankful things are as good as they are. cheers… x
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I agree with you about promptness…I try to never be late. I could eat several of those small cookies right now as a pick me up…they sound delicious.
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You could eat about 10 this size with a nice coffee. Me too!
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D E L I C I O U S !!! 🙂
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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So true! All of it 🙂 I used to have to get to things early, I still have to have everything set the night before anything if I have to be out in the morning, even for something like work – I have to make my lunch the night before. But, after a while, it stops being so nice being the first person to everything. I’ve played it a bit more risky in recent years. I’ll maybe be third.. I’m even late at times.. tut-tut 😉
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All good… But it is nice to have things ready. Nothing worse than forgetting bits. We are back to catching ferries on a regular basis. We use to drive up (in winter at least) when the boat was practically loading, beads of sweat on our forehead when it was 32° F. Cursing the car in front for going the speed limit. Praying the digital clock was still 2 minutes fast on the dashboard. No more. That is stress I can choose to avoid!
Happy holidays.
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With 4 daughters, I have had that same conversation–to many times to count!
Yummy cookie recipe.
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Really? Four? My neighbor does also. Some days are extreme fun… others she’s ready to pull her hair out.
Just did a little catch up in your world. Looks great at Down to Earth Digs.
Do you have a follow by email option. I’m terrible at looking at the reader.
cheers…w
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Yes, aren’t girls a hoot?
Your cookies look absolutely delicious…I love the size of them too.
Are you enjoying the island life?
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I’m going to take them and make 100 calorie packets. And eat 4 of them.
Sorry if that jokes a repeat. My brain is on holiday fry.
Island life is very good. I good pick up my honey tomorrow too. woohoo…. 🙂
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I really, really wish you were my next door neighbor. I would be incredibly nice to you!!! 🙂
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Thanks Cindy. You already are incredibly nice… and if we were in “real time” together, I’d be happy to share. Since we aren’t, you will just have to make some!
Happy holidays.
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Okay, now the frozen dough balls are even more fascinating than before! (I’ve never had one.) Thanks for sharing all your delicious recipes!
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Once again, my pleasure. Are you a Will and Grace fan? I have to admit, I smirk every time I say dough balls. I’m a child… or let’s say a teen.
Have you never had cookie dough ice cream?
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Dough balls are very funny words!
No I’ve never had cookie dough ice-cream, but I’ve seen it, Ben and Jerry’s, I think, but then I always end up buying Cherry Garcia.
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Now this is my kind of cookie! My hubs is a stickler for being on time.. even ahead of time.. which can be somewhat annoying at times, lol!
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Thanks Smidge… We just this minute ate a little plate full of the choc chip and the GF choc ginger. There will hardly be any left for guests as they’ve somehow become our nightly family treat 🙂
It may be annoying but I do think better on that side than always the late one. x… wt
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Haha – yes, some of us Germans are sticklers for time, aren’t we! It can be annoying if you’re one of them and your friends aren’t, so I’ve tried to make myself be a little late over the years, it’s hard but it works… Love your cookies as I’ve gotten to like things with salted almonds during the last year!
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These little bites look amazing. I think I have run out of steam for any more than the 2 batches I still have to make for Christmas, so these are on the list for next year!
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I hear that. Now that it’s all said and done, don’t think I could stomach another cookie for at least… um… a week.
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On time – ahhh yes you are in for a treat these next few weeks- and treats are exactly what these cookies are for, hope you have a good hiding place for them! HA! OMFing GOODNESS I think i smell them, and Im tasting salt– off to bake some today!
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Wendy I’m sitting here with my morning coffee laughing about your conversation with your daughter. I’ve had a similar conversation with both my daughters. Lol! It’s a daily adventure.
I too like to be on time. I had a mother who was never on time for anything! Drove me nuts.
Love this cookie recipe Wendy! I love the mix of chocolate and then topped with the brown sugar and salt. Love salt works! We just started carrying them at PCC Natural markets. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
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Hi Karista- Hope you had a good holiday. Cheers to the new year!
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Your conversation with Chloe so perfectly captures that “funny” time in our lives with our girls! Cracked me up Wendy! I really appreciated your comments on being tardy…and you said it so well when you said it just doesn’t feel good in your body anymore. I so get that! Our bodies are pretty smart. And I love your little cookies here!! And if it’s the one place (for a short period of time) that daughters and their mothers can agree, there should always be a jar of them on the counter and an open invitation to sit down and share them together. Great post Wendy!
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Conversations and cookies…. that’s the way alright. Happy New Year!
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I enjoyed your little conversation with your daughter. I think I could polish off an entire canister of cookies all by myself as I love the sweet and salty combo.
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I think I have. And there are still more in the freezer! Maybe some new year’s gifts will be passed out… I simply have to move them out 😉
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Love the combination of almond, chocolate & salt. I grew up in a German household, where promptness was simply a given. I often find myself arriving at EXACTLY the time specified for an event, and for more casual events have been known to linger awkwardly outside the door, or go grab a coffee so as to not appear as punctual as I actually am!
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Now that’s funny. And yes it is a given… what would the world look like if we all lived like that. curious. Enjoy the last bits of the holiday season. cheers… w
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Ha! “Fünf Minuten vor der Zeit, ist des Deutschen Pünktlichkeit” as my husband likes to remind me. I work with Italians so everything starts about and hour and half later than scheduled. These cookies look wonderful and loaded with flavor.
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There is certainly a middle ground! Happy New Year… w
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Just wanted to stop back in to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas.
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Hope you had a lovely holiday Karen. Just getting the computer warmed up again. See you in 2013. x wendy
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Oh yeah. And my son’s are the same. The only pleasure in this is knowing that one day they will have the exact same conversation with their teen… and these cookies look perfect and delicious and who doesn’t just love salty nuts with chocolate? And I think making them mini is great!
Wishing you and your family the merriest of holiday seasons Wendy!!!
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Thanks Jamie- Happy New Year 🙂
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Reblogged this on The Wordy Photographer.
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