My Partially Hydrogenated Revelation

I have been forced into a revelation this week. I am making a public declaration...now pay attention. I'm really not good at this sort of thing and it happens about as often as Haley's Comet. Ahem, here it goes...Jonwasright. Sorry, like I said, not easy. What I am trying to say is , well, my husband won a round and I am happily conceding. But, that's the end of the story. So I'll start at the beginning.

Last week Jon and I had a silly argument. A silly argument that was a long time coming. He had the nerve to accuse me of being a "butter snob". Can you imagine? Have you ever even heard of such a thing? A butter snob. He further said that going through 8 lbs of butter a month is ridiculous. As if!? Doesn't everyone go through 8lbs of butter a month? I mean, really, butter goes into everything. I mean everything! From toast to mashed potatoes. From cookies to well...just everything! Now, as in all relationships, he has been overlooking my character flaws for over ten years. You know how it is early in a relationship..."Oh, sweetie, margarine isn't good enough for anything? You need a monthly allowance for butter? Anything you want sweetie.", with a kiss. Well, the honeymoon was over last week and he abruptly put an end to my limitless supply of butter. He informed me that butter ain't cheap. Margarine or Crisco will have to do. Horrors! And even worse, I think he sicked the kids on me too! Sam went with me to the grocery and when I headed towards the margarine, he said, "No butter Mom. There's a pound  at home." Hmpf! So, I bent~ and boy was I bent about it!~ and bought margarine and (shudders) shortening. For the first time ever I bought partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. I tried during our "tiff" to convince Jon that shortening is really bad stuff. Honey, I said, Dr. Oz says you shouldn't eat anything with partially hyrogenated anything in it! Butter is natural. Natural is healthy, right? We should use butter! But, obviously, I lost that argument, because here I found myself at WallyWorld purchasing shortening, of all things.
This afternoon, I threw all caution to the winds. I pulled out the dreaded shortening and mixed up some chocolate chip cookies. When I finished mixing them up, I discovered the first advantage...I couldn't eat any of the uncooked dough. I just couldn't do it. Me! The woman who will upon occasion mix up chocolate chip cookies purely to eat the dough. I just couldn't put it in my mouth after I scooped that white goo into it.

After baking the first batch, I discover the second advantage.

The cookies were gorgeous! Picture perfect. Cookies worthy of pictures. Commercials even! Cookies you just could not resist. Cookies you could not get into your mouth fast enough.

Then I tasted one. I tell you...I kissed my husband. Then I called a family meeting. Everyone had to eat one of these cookies. Boy, that was a hardship.

They're a hit. And I'm a believer. I wouldn't call myself a total convert. I will proceed with care. But, I will proceed with a little more respect for my husband and his wallet. They are apparently not always wrong. He was definitely right about this : Using shortening won't kill you.

At least not right away (wink). I should have known it would make a tasty cookie the minute Dr Oz said not to eat it!