Chocolate Chip Cookies

If I do say so myself, I am somewhat of a chocolate chip cookie expert - I make pretty darn good cookies. Therefore, since cookies, in particular, chocolate chip cookies seem not to exist here, I told my team I would treat them to homemade chocolate chip cookies.

On the way home from the countryside last week, I checked to make sure that they had all the ingredients and asked what to look for in the grocery store. Baking soda = bicarbonate szoda, brown sugar - yes, we have that, vanilla - check we have that too! I was beginning to think this would be a piece of cake - or well cookie. :)

Hurdle 1: I went to my local "Match" on Friday night pretty much knowing they would not have what I needed because shopping there is more like shopping in a convenience store than a grocery store. Anyway, so no surprise no vanilla - they were out, no brown sugar, no baking soda BUT they did have eggs, butter, sugar, and flour.

Hurdle 2: I made my way to Tesco - the local Walmart - via Metro. I started my search for brown sugar. I couldn't find anything that looked like brown sugar. I did find brown....sugar. The kind of sugar that looks "raw" but no molasses added brown sugar. I move down the "baking aisle" and find baking soda - CHECK!! and then find what they call vanilla - this tiny bottle of clear liquid - ok but still no brown sugar. I then spent the next 30 min finely combing every aisle of this store and STILL did not find brown sugar. I did however find the "American" food section which did have a bag mix for chocolate chip cookies which I decide to take as my back up plan. Finally, I ask a store clerk who claims to speak a little English but really i think she speaks about as much English as I speak Hungarian, nem-nem-nem. A random dude in the store tries to help me but he just points me to the "brown" sugar.

So, I decide to purchase the "brown" sugar and experiment a bit. I get to the check out and try to pay for all of my stuff - Oh I forgot - I had also decided to get a hand mixer - an old school hand crank mixer since mixing cookies by hand is a bit difficult. However, the checker gets to the hand mixer looks at it and sets it aside. I tell her, "No, I want to buy that". She points to the barcode on another item and then wags her finger and points at the mixer - I took that to mean since it did not have a barcode I could not buy it - so frustrating.

Hurdle 3: I get home from Tesco and unpack my stuff - all my stuff that is EXCEPT the vanilla which is apparently magically missing. These cookies are going to be terrible :(

So - I am sitting here making cookies from a bag and praying these turn out to at least give these Hungarians a "taste" of the US and not wish to never see another cookie.

PS My team also told me that the word "cookie" in Hungarian is the word a small child or a parent talking to a small child would use for the male anatomy. haha