Last Updated on April 23, 2019 by Michelle
From cookies baked in cast iron to old treasures to new discoveries, I’ve been having a pretty good week around the homestead.
Pretty-good-week fact #1? After unearthing an amazing light fixture last fall on our property’s centuries-old midden, I convinced my husband it should become our kitchen table light… and I LOVE it.
Pretty-good-week fact #2? After years of enjoying my dovetailed wooden box “magazine holder,” I inspected it closely the other day. I researched its markings, and I discovered that I was the proud owner of a box that housed nothing finer than . . . wait for it . . .
Original American Chocolate. With a capital “c,” because this company–the Walter Baker & Company–was established in 1780 as the premier producer of American chocolate.
I’m not sure if I’m more astounded that our founding fathers had the stamina to declare national independence without the fortitude that only chocolate can provide, or that I actually own a piece of this history.
Then, well, there’s the fact that I made the most beautifully delicious giant chocolate chip cookie EVER… keep reading for that one…
UPDATE: I’ve perfected a Maple Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for Sweet Maple, which will be available in book stores across the country fall 2019. But some things are just too delicious to wait until Fall 2019, am I right? 😉 So I just added the maple-infused recipe to my subscriber library. Just subscribe right here and then you can hop over there to print it out for yourself.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Pretty-good-week fact #3? I stumbled upon this amazing online store that’s bursting at the seems with beautiful rustic pieces like my old light fixture and dovetailed wooden box. I spent a while under its spell, mesmerized by so much of what I saw. When I reached out to them with some questions, I was truly in love. They asked if I’d like to share their site with my readers. Ummmm, yeah! That was a no-brainer. I think you guys will love this stuff. Here’s where I am totally transparent, btw… the folks at Antique Farm House did offer me a tiny commission. So if you decide, like me, that you gotta have a few of their beautiful treasures, I will get a few pennies when you purchase, but of course it won’t cost you a penny more. And, needless to say, I wouldn’t even be telling you about their amazingness if I didn’t think they were, well, amazing.
Beautifully rustic and totally useful and practical products? They got ’em.
Top notch customer service? Check.
Great prices, and even unbeatable deals, on totally unique finds? Check.
Of course because these treasures are so unique, the inventory is continually changing. If you see something you like, trust me, if you don’t snag it, it’ll be gone tomorrow.
But here’s the reason I was so excited to find Antique Farm House this week: So often things I’ve shared on SoulyRested about unique pieces in our home (like my dove-tailed box, or my enamel pans/succulent planter–you can see them in the picture above or up close on this post) and rustic finds around our homestead (like my light, above, and these amazing old bottles). And whenever I share these finds with you, you guys are often reaching out to me asking where you can get something similar.
I hated never having an answer to that, since I dug my treasures out of my backyard midden or rescued them from my town’s give-and-take room. (Gosh I LOVE that room!) I can’t tell you how happy I am that I’ve found an online source for you all to unearth similar treasures for yourself! I mean, just look at these treasures pictured here! Then click the images below and peruse for yourself!
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Pretty-good-week fact #4? After the longest, coldest April I can remember, with the first day of May arrived our first it-really-feels-like-spring kinda day.
Pretty-good-week fact #5? A handful of furry, purring sweetness was born in the barn a few nights ago. I introduced those of you who follow my facebook page to the 6 adorable new barn cats in training on a live video this week. (I’ll stick the video down below too.)
You may not be surprised to know that cold weather makes homesteading extra hard, but you may be surprised at a few of our solutions that help us face the difficulties of winter here on the farm.
And glance at this post if you’d like to know about a huge mistake we made with our first barn cat. One we won’t be making with the new kitties, for sure.
Pretty-good-week fact #6? I baked a delicious cookie. Yep. One cookie.
But it’s quite possibly the best thing I ever bake in my cast iron pans. Yes, a giant chocolate chip cookie in cast iron is the most delicious part of this pretty good week. Keep scrolling for the gotta-have-this-one recipe.
Do you like to repurpose old treasures? Then you’llwanna snag a free copy of my instructional booklet, Give An Old Door New Life, for free, like right now… in my Resource Library.
And you won’t believe the fun stories behind these old jars and what I use them for today.
I usually use my 10 1/2″ griddle for this cookie, but I’ve also used my 14″ cast iron pizza pan to make one extra-large cookie, when I’m feeding a crowd.
I should say that my favorite cast iron cookies are the ones I bake in my 5″ individual-sized pans. But you don’t need a recipe for those. I simply use the Nestle Toll House recipe (on the bag) and place a giant ball (about 3 cookies worth of dough) on each pan. When I take them out of the oven, I place them on oven-safe pottery plates (so we don’t have to touch the hot pans while we devour the warm cookies), top them with ice cream, and of course always serve them with tall glasses of chilled milk.
If you like this recipe, be sure to try out another cast iron baking favorite of mine: Grandmom’s Blueberry Cake in Cast Iron.
So, to sum up . . .
Turning found treasures into a light source? A chore I allocated to my amazing husband.
Telling the story of my newly-found, long-ago-aquired chocolate box? A job I have taken on wholeheartedly.
Farmhouse Antiques for everyone, at 80% off wholesale? Something I just have to repeat again.
Barn kitties? A video you don’t wanna miss.
Baking cookies in cast iron pans? An effort I’m happy to devour. And don’t forget to subscribe here if you’d like to snag my Maple Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe in my subscriber library.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cups butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 6 ounces chocolate chips
Ingredients
|
|
- Heat oven to 350 while mixing sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg.
- Stir in flour and baking soda, then add chocolate chips.
- Spread dough in a 10 1/2" cast iron griddle pan. (Use a paper towel to rub pan in thin layer of shortening if pan is not well seasoned.)
- Bake 15-20 minutes, or until center seems done.
To make an amazing extra-large cookie in an extra-large, 15" cast iron pan, simply increase serving size above to 12 servings and bake an extra 5-10 minutes. Of course, I know you can't add one and a half eggs, so you're gonna have to make a judgement call there. With our farm fresh eggs, I will choose one extra large one or two extra small ones. (We always have young hens as well as adult hens on the homestead, and their egg sizes vary greatly, which comes in very handy sometimes.)
We also love making single-serving chocolate chip cookies in individual-size mini cast iron griddle pans. For that, we have found that using the standard cookie recipe on the Nestle Toll House chip bag yields the best results. We'll put a large mound on the single-serving cast iron pan and bake for 8-10 minutes or until center is done. Then we top the warm-out-of-the-oven individual cookies with ice cream and eat dessert right out of the pan.
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These are the three sizes/styles of cast iron pans that I’ve found work best for baking cookies. And I’ve tried a LOT of cast iron pans, from heirloom to new, from tiny to huge, from griddles to skillets. I mean someone had to do the difficultly delicious research. 🙂 You can trust me when I say these three styles/sizes of cast iron pans make the world’s best cookies:
Other cast iron products I love:
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My son just requested a giant chocolate chip cookie cake for his birthday. Thanks for sharing on teh Hoemstead Blog Hop This looks great! See you Wednesday. 🙂