Bitter

November 9, 2016 /
Clinton Cookies
Clinton Cookies*

These were supposed to be our victory cookies, based on a recipe from the 1992 Presidential election, when Hillary Clinton made a comment on the Today show that she supposed she could have stayed home and baked cookies, but instead she continued her law career.  She was slammed, with the assumption being that she held contempt for stay-at-home moms, that she thought their life was simply baking cookies and drinking tea.  She quickly fell in line, doing the politically expedient thing and entering a cookie recipe in the Family Circle baking contest, a First Lady challange that survives to this day.

I decided it would be symbolic of how far we’ve come to bake a batch of her cookie recipe.  I baked some on Saturday and sent them to my Grandma and Great Aunt, who were SO EXCITED about this victory.  I baked the rest for us yesterday.  I made one small change, in that I used butter instead of shortening.  I’m not enough of a baker to know how the shortening ones would have turned out, but I looked at both oatmeal and chocolate chip cookie recipes, and both seemed to generally call for butter.  

And now, here we are. President Trump. It sticks in my throat and gave me nightmares last night. I cannot believe we are here. I cannot believe our next President will be a man with zero political experience, who denies climate change in the face of all evidence, who says and does the things he says and does. It is a bitter pill to swallow.

Anyway, since I had it ready to post yesterday, here is Hillary Clinton’s recipe.

Hillary Clinton’s Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup solid vegetable shortening (I used butter)
  • 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I used dark because we had it)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease baking sheets (I used parchment paper instead, so the cookies wouldn’t spread as much.
  2. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
  3. Beat together shortening (butter, room temperature), sugars, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs, beating until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in flour mixture and rolled Oates.  Stir in chocolate chips.  (Add some nuts if you’re baking for Grandma and Aunt Flo, omit if you’re baking for Ted and Maya.  Life is a little complicated sometimes.)
  4. Drop batter by well-rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.
  5. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 minutes.  Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 7 1/2 dozen cookies

* The Almond Joy is Maya’s superstitiouss move…she enjoyed an Almond Joy for Obama’s win in ’08

9 Comments

  • Ally Bean

    November 9, 2016 at 9:29 am

    I’d forgotten about that cookie comment, but it does seem fitting that this ridiculous election end with cookies. Something sweet to counteract the bitterness. She wins the popular vote, then loses. Go figure… while eating a cookie.

    • J

      November 9, 2016 at 3:30 pm

      It helped a bit. Ted took the rest of them to work with him. The easiest way to get rid of any sweet (or any food) is to put it in an office break room.

    • J

      November 9, 2016 at 3:29 pm

      Me too, and I remember being mad that she had to capitulate and bake cookies. I have nothing against cookies or people who choose to stay home rather than be lawyers or whatever. But I do want all women to have the choice.

  • Nance

    November 11, 2016 at 6:25 am

    I’m still furious at all the changes she had to make in order to be A Good Political Wife. Probably even more in order to be in the public eye as much as she was. Women are always viewed with a much more critical eye and in so many more categories.

    Bitter is right. But it only starts there.

    • J

      November 11, 2016 at 7:47 pm

      Indeed…when she married, she didn’t take Clinton as her name. It wasn’t until it seemed to be hurting him politically that she changed it. Frustrating, the way that women cannot win. Literally.

  • OmbudsBen

    November 17, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Meanwhile, if anyone calls The Donald out, he says the most atrocious things. It’s just horrific, and uncharted ground–I can’t recall an American politician ever getting away with this. I lie awake wondering how bad this could get. If he annoys other countries, they retaliate with tariffs, and protectionism tanks the world economy? And he feels the world is picking on him? This isn’t just picking on beauty pageant contestants.

    • J

      November 17, 2016 at 3:29 pm

      I know, what a mess. I’m increasing my giving to organizations like ACLU, SPLC, and Planned Parenthood. I called our representatives yesterday about Steve Bannon. I worry about whether things will get as bad as they can, which would be mighty bad indeed.