Cookie fail

I have not had the time or energy to make a lot of baked goods in the last month or two, plus it has been too hot to turn on the oven.  That has not stopped my cravings, though.  I had a major disaster last week when I attempted a new oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe from a trusted source that called for margarine.  I've almost never baked with margarine.  I'm a real butter gal.  However, I thought I'd take a risk and try it.  I knew it was an extra big risk since my official Taste of Home Baking Book implores you not to use less than 80% oil margarine and whatever I had was cheap and not labeled.  Needless to say, it was an epic failure.  After two disastrous pans of crusty, flatter-than-pancakes "cookies" I tried to salvage the rest of the dough by baking it as bars in a 9x9 pan.  After the kids & I each had one the rest went in the trash.  They weren't even worthy of being crumbled on top of ice cream.  It has always been a running joke in my family that there is no such thing as a baking disaster because "it will taste good on ice cream."  Not this.

Anyway, inspired by my sister's baking spree post that resulted in 222 scrumptious, beautiful looking cookies coming out of her kitchen last Saturday, I decided to try again after lunch today.  I had come across another oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe that I couldn't remember if I had tried or not. (I have been on a life-long quest for the "perfect" chocolate chip cookie recipe.)  My first clue should have been when the recipe called for lightly greased baking pans.  I never grease pans when using butter in cookies.  I followed the directions and double-checked all the measurements, but obviously mine did not exactly turn out looking like the picture.  And I'm pretty sure it wasn't because I cheated by using semi-sweet chips instead of chocolate chunks.  :op

I didn't even bother putting them on a cooling rack.  I just scraped them all off into a plastic container and then scooped out a portion into fancy glass bowls for Emily & me to eat with a spoon.  Think chocolate chip cookie dough cobbler.  It would have tasted even better with a big scoop of ice cream on top...