I’m writing this post and it’s not 11pm. Little victories. Today’s a big day. It’s Mother’s Day. And while the rest of you are all up on Facebook posting about how your mom is the “best” I think we all know the truth …. my mom is the best mom out there hands down. She is the person who taught me how to bake, so without her there would be no salted cookies. She has a great sense of humor, and loves both Ke$ha and Eminem, for real. She also took so many photos of me as a child that if you flip through the albums quickly you can actually see me grow up like a flipbook. But as a result, I am now incredibly photogenic. And humble. It’s no surprise that I am also her favorite child (sorry Dan and Kristen, you guys come in a close second and third). From the time I was time I was just the size of a kumquat, I knew first impressions were everything. So being the sweet child that I am, I decided to give my mom the easiest labor ever and pop out only 40 minutes after she arrived in the hospital. You’re welcome, Mom.

I spent the weekend down the Cape with my parents, which was great. My mom has all of the photo albums down there, so as my gift to her I spent the morning reliving my childhood by showing her adorable photos of me. I mean, does it get any better? I’ve included a highlight reel at the bottom of this post. I guess I should talk about cookies first. So I was in CVS yesterday with my mom browsing the Hallmark aisle since my mom is an avid card buyer (she sent me 1 card every single day for the 4 years I was in college, true story). And I came across these Lindt Dark Chocolate Orange Bars at the end of the aisle. So decided to make these little orange zesty dark chocolate cookies. I do have to give a little credit to Skip for the inspiration, since as a kid I always remember his ice cream of choice was one scoop chocolate ice cream and one scoop orange sherbert. A winning combination.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• Zest from 1 orange
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Lindt Dark Chocolate Orange Bars coarsely chopped

 

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars. Add in vanilla extract and eggs, and mix well.

Step 2: Sift together the dry ingredients and add into the wet mixture until well incorporated. Zest one large orange and add it into the batter. (That manicure is for my latest “mom hands” hand modeling gig. I’m going to be big time soon).

Step 3: Coarsely chop two dark chocolate bars and add to the batter. If you can find the ones infused with orange zest get those, if not it should be enough orange flavor with the regular orange zest. Chill the dough for a half hour if you have time. Especially now that it is getting warmer out (and if you’re too cheap to turn on the AC yet like me) it just makes it easier to handle the dough.

Step 4: Scoop even-size balls of dough onto parchment or sil-pat lined baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-12 minutes, or until lightly brown.

I mean does that manicure just scream Mom Hands or what?

 

 

These are good. Real good. The orange flavor is so refreshing. I am definitely going to be adding it to more cookies in the future.

Before we get into the highlight reel of my adorable childhood, this is what Colleen and I mastered Friday night. And by mastered, I mean I need to invest in a pizza stone because the bottom was charred black, but damn this was still good. We made a Margarita Pizza and then one with crazy toppings: roasted red peppers, eggplant, goat cheese, bacon, and caramelized onion. We also made a grilled romaine caesar (not pictured).

And now, as a tribute to the woman who gave me life and taught me to be photogenic, here are some adorable photos from what I like to call Becca: The Early Years.

This is a very classy picture. Minus the fact my mom had cut my bangs.

I like to call this pose “say what?”

 

This is my sassy face. This looks a lot like my grown up face most days too.

 

And last but not least, I had to throw this in there. Grandpa was always a party animal. I look wasted. Happy Mother’s Day everyone.