Bottled Up

There was a time when we (and by "we" I really mean everyone else but "I") spent days, weeks, months constructing elaborate ships in bottles.  The trick is, you (and by "you," I mean anyone but "I") build a tiny ship model and have the sails and topsail and mizzenmast and gangplanks and all that fold flat, and then you loop a string around it all and reach in with a knitting needle or hawser and pull it all upright.

Then you go watch TV and wonder why you bothered.

My dad had a bottle of brandy with a pear inside of it. Apparently on this earth there are pear farmers who have the time to put a bottle over a budding pear in the spring and allow the pear to grow within.  After that, it's a simple matter to snip off the pear and fill the bottle with brandy.

I had a bottle of beer with a slice of lemon in it, but that was not a trick of the lemon tree.  Now, you show me a bottle of beer with a cheesesteak wrapped up inside of it, and you've got my attention.  Until then, here's a recipe I found for making a chocolate chip cookie in the very mug from which you are currently sipping mocha java!

I found this on the www.number-2-pencil.com website.


Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Granulated White Sugar
1 Tablespoon of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
3 Drops of Vanilla Extract
Small Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 Egg Yolk (discard the egg white or save for different recipe)
Scant ¼ of All Purpose Flour (slightly less than ¼ of a cup)
2 heaping tablespoons of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Start by melting your butter in the microwave. Butter should just be melted, not boiling.
Add sugars, vanilla and salt. Stir to combine.
Separate your egg and add the yolk only to your cup. Stir to combine.
Add flour, then stir again. Measure a scant, slightly less than full, ¼ cup of all-purpose flour.
Add the chocolate chips, and give a final stir. Now your mixture will look like cookie dough.
Cook in microwave 40-60 seconds, start checking for doneness at 40 seconds. Mine takes 50 seconds. Do not cook past one minute, just like a regular cookie, this will continue cooking as it cools. If the cookie is dry or cake like, try less time.
Serve warm

 Somehow, I see this becoming a popular thing in offices, dormitories, firehouse kitchens, lighthouses and bail bond offices.  Wherever man has tamed the awesome power of microwave cookery, no mug shall remain cookieless!