This batch of holiday baking shouldn’t have been very labor-intensive: I was just making my tried-and-true chocolate chip recipe that I’ve been using for ages, but adding Nestlé Tollhouse red and green chocolate chips. All the festivity, none of the effort!

Since it was all so simple, I decided to go to my boyfriend’s apartment and let his young children help out. They enjoy helping him bake breads and muffins, so I knew they’d have fun. I brought over what we needed that he didn’t have, including an electric hand-held mixer (I was not lugging over my Kitchen Aid stand mixer!). We got everything measured and into bowls, and we were ready to mix, and …. I’d forgotten the beaters for the mixer! Whoooops!

Welp, that’s what men are for, right? Manual labor, har har. Okay, sexist jokes aside, he did a great job as our mixer. Once I got the older kid to stop eating the chips, we were ready to get them stirred in and start baking. Hooray!

After all was said and done, the cookies were officially kid-approved. The youngest, who is incredibly picky, actually ate a whole one! And the oldest reported, “Wow, these are actually pretty good!” Glowing praise, indeed.