Waffle Iron Chocolate Brownies

Again I surprise myself by shopping for my needed ingredients ahead of time. If only I would take this approach on all aspects of my life! I actually read through the directions of the recipe before I went shopping and I'm glad I did. I chose to buy the cocoa powder for baking over the chocolate baking squares because it saved me a step in the recipe (I didn't have to melt the chocolate). I'm always looking for a short cut! Kids are playing at Danielle B.'s house today so there is plenty of time to make these cookies without any distractions. I put the brownie ingredients together and plugged in my waffle iron. Hey, is it bad when brown sugar is clumped up into hard little balls that will not crumble apart no matter how hard you try? Is it like honey, still good but needs to be brought back to the right consistency? Lucky for me I had an unopened bag in the pantry so I didn't have to use the hard little balls-but you know that I would have if I had to! I used a melon baller to measure out the same size cookie every time. I think they are bigger than the cookies that Sharon makes because there was no way that I was going to get 48 cookies out of that dough. I could only fit four balls of dough on my small waffle iron per cycle (that's only 2 cookies) so after about forty minutes, I finally had enough made to give to each of my girlfriends. I was exhausted at this point so I decided to go with plan B...I divided the remaining batter in half and made 2 full size waffles. What's the difference? It will still taste the same. Don't hate me for being lazy! Cookies done. Time to move onto filling. I mixed half and half and sugar in a pot and put it on the stove to simmer. Sharon has "do not boil" underlined in her book so that must be important. Well, I turned my head for ONE second and the next thing I know the mixture is boiling over the sides of my pot. Ooops! I immediately took it off the heat, added vanilla extract and let it cool. It was tasty. However, when I went to mix it with the shortening, it would not incorporate very well at all. I figured it was because I boiled it so I started over again. This time, I stood at the stove and DID NOT BOIL. Once it cooled, I tried to mix it in with the shortening and again with no luck. I was even using a whisk attachment (which I didn't even know I had!) I tasted it because if it tasted good I was going to use it whether it looked fluffy or not. However, it tasted like shortening with a little bit of sugar added. Yuck! Now you can only imagine how mentally exhausted I am at this point! In desperation, I pulled a tub of Cool Whip out of the freezer, thawed it and added sugar and vanilla and made the cookie sandwiches. Now I need a nap! shelly