Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies

3/22/2023

It's pollen season in Atlanta and every day there's an internal struggle that goes on in my brain.🧠 I start each beautiful Spring day with the intention of keeping all doors and windows closed and tightly sealed, to keep that signature fine, yellow pollen dust layer from forming on my floors, appliances and countertops.🤧 But inevitably, sometime around noon, when the sun is shining and the birds are singing, I convince myself that it's perfectly acceptable to crack just one window open to let in some fresh air and perhaps just minimal pollen.😬 As the afternoon progresses though, I talk myself into the fact that I should open up more doors and windows and just deal with the pollen clean up. By the end of the day, every window and door in my house is open and every surface covered in a thin layer of yellow pollen.🫤

I think the problem is that I just love Spring so much that I want to enjoy it fully --- inside my house. 😂 If I have to be inside, I want to feel like I'm outside - so I open up the house to let all that fresh Spring air in. Unfortunately, that also means that for a few weeks a year, I also let in the pollen. I don't think I ever really understood Spring cleaning until I moved to the land of yellow pollen.🤪

Cookie baking days are an exception to my open door policy. I keep all windows and doors closed during the baking and cooling process so the cookies are exposed to as little pollen as possible. I feel like I breathe in so much of the yellow pine pollen on my morning walks that I don't need to ingest it as a topping on my desserts as well. 🥴

Baking pollen free cookies is one thing but getting pictures of them --- let's just say that Spring photography takes pollen removal to a whole new level.🤣 Decks get hosed off, boards get scrubbed and porch furniture is pressure washed weekly because if you live in the South you know that pollen gets everywhere. It's totally worth the effort though because Pollen Free Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies are the bomb! 💣

Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies
3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cups chocolate chunks