Oatmeal Raisin Cookies & Camera Lens..

A lot happened this weekend:

• I graduated.
• I opened a bank account 
• I finally got an iPhone since my phone finally gave out
• I found an oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that I like. I'm picky and even though I don't like many pre made store bought foods, I like the oatmeal dough from the store since it has a stronger cinnamon taste compared to other recipes I've tried. 
• I met my cousin's little girl, Stacy Ember who will most likely go by Ember when the family came out for Sunday dinner. 

This is from my cousin's Facebook. I took some photos, but the lighting wasn't to good and she was squirmy.

 My cousin wants me to do a mini photo shoot with herself, the baby, and her girlfriend and i'm excited. I've been on pinterest getting ideas and tip for baby portraits and I'm hoping that I can get another camera lens as a graduation/birthday gift. As of now I have my 2  lenses that came with my camera (18-55mm & 55-250mm), but I'm not sure what lens I want next that is in the under $300 range - there are a few I want, but are way out of the price range I'm looking at. I've heard rave reviews about  Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens and it's about $115. A lot of people say that the 50mm 1.4 is great and it's just under $400, but I think it would be worth it. I mostly use my camera for food photography, macro shots, and our animals. I have some requests to do some family portraits which is one reason I was leaning towards the 50mm 1.4.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

yields: 30 small cookies

recipe: Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2/3 cup packed brown sugar -I used dark

1 large egg, room temperature

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon -I used a heaping 1/2 tsp

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)- I omitted these

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar for a minute or two before adding in the egg and vanilla and cream until smooth.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add the flour mix into the wet mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.
3.You can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge or you could bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but they come out better if you chill the dough. I chilled the dough for a few hours and they came out puffy and dense.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F.

5.  I used a small ice cream/cookie scoop to portion out these cookie. The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet- they don't really spread, but puff up. 

6. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, taking them out when golden on the edges but still look a little under cooked on top. Let them sit on the cookie sheet a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. 

- Do you have a certain Canon lens that you adore or tips?