It's a crowd...on a hot summer day!

I have mentioned before the Rooster Sr and I serve in Young Single Ward.  As such, we get to share our time with tremendous Young Single Adults (YSA) in Sunday services as well as during other activities during the week.  Yesterday was one such activity.  We went Rappelling in American Fork Canyon.  Many of these young adults had never been Rappelling before and so it was a lesson in faith, and trust.  It was also about fellowship and having fun.

Well, lets just say that Rooster Sr and I took care of the food....all by ourselves. It is not beneath us to do it, it's just that Rooster Sr. planned the steak part....but didn't think about the rest of it.  So, I took him shopping with me....and we got everything that we deemed necessary.  This is not the point of this post...but I just had to say it...  Many wives really get this point.  We love our guys, but they often get lost in the details...and we help them navigate through it all. 

It was a not day yesterday, in the 90's.  When the initial group of YSA's arrived at our home preparing to go set up the site, I asked them what type of cookie they wanted to eat.  I gave them several options, but they unanimously chose Chocolate Chip.  Did I mention it was a hot day?  So, after they left, I began to bake and got to use a new tool I recently purchased.  It is called 

Hamilton Beach 11 x 17 Silicone Baking Mat.  I purchased 2 on a recent trip to visit my sister.  I finally decided to use it.  

It is bright red!  There is no mistaking what it is.  It has measurement markings along the sides of the mat if you need them. 

I placed my cookies on the sheet and baked them.  They baked up just fine.  One thing to note, the mat expanded in the pan when it was in the oven and I had a slight 'wave' when I pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven. No worries, it did not negatively impact the delicious cookies.

Here are 2 cookies. One with a view of the bottom (slightly browned) and another from the top.  All of the cookies had this slight browning on the bottom.  I don't believe it was from cooking to long as the cookies were soft and moist.

Now, on to the challenge with the hot temperature....and chocolate. Here is a method that worked very well.

I took sheets of waxed paper and put one on the bottom.  I placed my first layer of cookies on it and then repeated the pattern to fill up the container.

Here you can see several layers in the container.  By the way, this is a plastic shoe container.  It held about 60 cookies.

I then put the container into my freezer until I left.  They were nice and cold.  I put the container into the cooler when I got to the site.  They were nice and cool.....until some of the YSA's discovered them and well......let's just say Dessert started even before dinner did.

Where was I during this cookie theft?  I was Belaying at the bottom...essentially trying to ensure that no one fell!   

Take home message:

• The Silicone Mat was around $6.99 where I purchased it. To order a similar (and very good product-Silpat), it will cost you about $13.00 for the same size.  
• Nothing stuck to it, and I just threw it in the dishwasher to wash off the melted chocolate afterwards.
• The Chocolate in the cookies was just right having been placed on the waxed paper and also having been chilled first.

Consider it when you have folks who are wanting chocolate on a hot day:)