Is this cheating?

I've been playing with various recipes lately, I get a lot of ideas from the What's Cooking? discussion board on thenest.com (yes, I do realize that qualifies me as a dork). But anyway, I end up feeling remorse when I find a new recipe that I like that is in the same category as a "family recipe".

For example, my Mom made the same chocolate chip cookies for me throughout high school, bringing buckets of them (literally) to our cross-country meets. I feel great allegiance and loyalty to these cookies. Yet, I cheated on them. I tried the BBFCCC's and liked them. I felt the same way when I abandoned my grandmother's banana bread recipe for another allrecipes.com version. Like I had broken trust or been disloyal.

Anyway, if you need a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, and are willing to deal with the two-fold guilt of abandoning your ancestors and consuming calories after the new year, here is a great recipe.

I usually make a full batch of them, bake up a cookie sheet full, and then put the rest of the dough into a freezer bag and make small batches as I want. It's great to have on hand when DH invites people over 3 nights in a week... I'll tell that story later.

Best Big Fat Choc. Chip Cookies

(BBFCCCs)

from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. (I usually put them in the fridge and wait at least an hour before baking. I find it works a lot better!) Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Today's Hawaiian word is:
I mua - to progress, go forward
"ee moo-ah"

Holo i mua - Move forward.