This first time I made a pie for my then-boyfriend, now -husband -of -35 years' family, the top crust sank into the filling. It had NEVER happened before! I quickly made chocolate chip cookies instead. I admitted the disaster to my husband, who said that in his family, they'd have called it a buckle and served it anyway. When I unveiled the cookies, his whole family stood around the plate with their mouths agape. When I asked what was wrong, they said, "They are all the same size!" Apparently, my eventual mother in law (with 10 kids!) would just take a spoon and plop the dough on the cookie sheet wherever, making cookies as big as dinner plates, some with right angles as the ran into the corner. It may have been a low bar, but my in-laws always loved my baking!

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