As a dieting mom of a 2 year old boy and wife of a hungry workin’ man, I’ve had to learn to sometimes put my willpower to the test. Hard as I try to only cook things that are super Weight Watchers-friendly, I also realize that other people live in my house too. People who do not need to lose 60 pounds. People, who, in fact, do not even yet weigh 60 lbs.

And dang if my new-found eating habits haven’t influenced the heck out of what I feed my kid. In the early days, I made all of his food from scratch, pureeing my little heart out and offering him only stuff I made with my loving hands. And then he got picky. And I got busier. And things changed a bit. Like, instead of offering him a homemade oatmeal craisin cookie as a treat, I’d sling a few vanilla wafers from the box across the table and call it good.

But I have turned over a new leaf and vowed to keep a few treats on hand for my baby and my husband. I’m not even trying to pretend these treats are healthy. They’re not. But they’re not full of artificial colors or high fructose corn syrup or other things I can’t pronounce, so I’m figuring we are at least a little bit better off than we were with the vanilla wafers or Lofthouse fat bombs.

I wanted to make cookies that would be simple to do and wouldn’t require fancy or expensive ingredients. Sometimes there is nary a chocolate chip in my cabinets, so my goal was to find something that just used pantry staples. I love brown sugar, so I decided to try to come up with a simple sugar cookie, only with the added flavor benefit of brown sugar. This worked great and is a perfect accompaniment to a little dish of ice cream after dinner. Also, it’s sophisticated enough for an adult but delicious enough for a kid. I’ve been making them a couple of times a month and I love it because it doesn’t take any forethought or special stuff from the store.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/meganstuke/photos/2012/apr/30/234084/

Simple Brown Sugar Cookies

1 stick of butter, softened (I used light butter)
1 C brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cognac (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the butter, sugar, and egg together and then add in everything else. I had the cognac left over from a long-ago party and I do like the addition of it, though it’s totally not necessary.

Drop the dough (it will be fairly thin) by the tablespoon onto a Silpat or wax paper-lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Be sure to drop them an inch or so apart because they will spread as they cook.

So quick and easy, and makes about 24 cookies. I’m not even going to try to figure the Weight Watchers points on these babies, because I know it’s too many. I’ve allowed myself to have one or two (quality control, right?) but usually if I’m craving something I just nibble a corner of Johnny’s and call it good.

Johnny calls these his “big cookies” (as opposed to the diminutive vanilla wafers) and they are certainly well-received as an improvement over said wafers. I think they are nice enough for company, but quick and easy enough for every day cookie jar fare, which makes them ideal for my life, which is all about practicality.