The Power of a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Who would have guessed, way back when I first learned how to make them, that these cookies would have such a huge impact on my life?

~The Early Years~

When I first started baking cookies, I used the recipe on the back of Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip bag. At some point my sister, who was in high school, and I, in middle school, decided that they would be a perfect after school snack. When we would make them, we had to taste test the dough at 2 key points before eating the final cookie:

1) when the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla was mixed together

&

2) when all the ingredients were added (yes, we ate the raw egg but never got sick).

But, the final cookie was always the best!

Once the first pan of cookies had baked, we’d eat a slightly cooled cookie that was topped with a little extra raw cookie dough!

You really can’t beat a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie topped with melting cookie dough! I’m sure some of you are cringing or loving the idea, it probably depends on your relationship with cookie dough, but we loved it. She and I still talk about how silly it was that chocolate chip cookies were, one, an after school snack, and, two, that the baked cookie wasn’t enough, that it needed extra dough on top. How and why did we think of that? We also had a Honey-Nut Cheerio thing, but that’s another story.

~Developing the “Perfect” Cookie~

I don’t remember how or why, but soon after, I wanted to create my own chocolate chip cookie, better than the Nestle version. I started experimenting with different chip combinations: chocolate with butterscotch, dark chocolate or all of them together; never with white-chocolate chips, I’m not a fan. Ultimately I found that using a 50/50 split of Ghirardelli’s bittersweet chocolate chips and Reese’s peanut butter chips was the best.

I’m sure that landing on the darker chocolate and peanut butter chip combo was driven by my love of chocolate and peanut butter, the absolute best flavor combo, but there is something else, the peanut butter chips add moisture to the cookie that no other chip adds.

After the chips, the next important factor was texture; thin and crispy or thick and soft? Considering I prefer my cookies as close to dough-like as possible, you can guess that thin and crispy won’t due.

When I was in high school and working on this cookie project, my oldest sister’s boyfriend (I have 2 older sisters) at the time, had clear cookie baking rules. He mixed the dough by hand, always, and kept adding extra flour until the grittiness of the sugar went away; that was the signal that the dough was ready. The cookies were thicker and softer; that was it, I started adding more flour!

~Key Player in Major Life Moments~

Over the years I kept making my cookies for friends and family. I’ve sent them in care packages, especially when friends were far from home, and brought them to get togethers. I don’t remember the cookies playing any role with previous boyfriends (maybe that was a sign) but, after meeting my now husband, these cookies quickly took on a supporting role.

We met at my friend’s wedding in late September 2001 and I quickly knew that this was going to be something different. Since he was, and is, a chocolate chip cookie lover, I made him a batch for our first Valentine’s Day. I went so far as to bake them, bar like on a sheet pan, and used a cookie cutter to make them heart shaped. Maybe a little cheesy, but that’s ok, I’m a little cheesy and he loved them.

The same cookies that I gave him for our first Valentine’s Day, we gave away to our wedding guests. We had a weekend wedding on San Juan Island, which coincided with the annual San Juan County Fair. Since I was making 100’s of cookies for our guests, I decided to enter them into the County Fair’s baking competition; I won a blue ribbon!

In early 2010, I used these cookies to help keep my 20 month old daughter’s level of gluten consumption high enough for accurate celiac screening while we waited for her endoscopy procedure. Feeding her gluten became challenging because she started to avoid it on her own. I was desperate and figured she wouldn’t reject cookies. At first she loved having a cookie a day, but it didn’t take too long for her to start pushing them away; it was definitely a stressful time. Click here if you’d like to read more about our diagnostic process.

The emotional process of transitioning to a gluten free diet after a celiac diagnosis is hard, varied and real. At first, I was devastated that she’d never be able to have my cookies again. So, this was one of the most important recipes to be made gluten free after her diagnosis. These cookies had been part of so many amazing life events and memories and I wanted that to keep happening. Since gluten free baking can be challenging, it did take some time and experimenting, but I figured it out and I’m happy to say that they are really yummy.

They even won another blue ribbon at the San Juan County Fair in 2017.

~Cookie Power~

Yes, these cookies have played a significant role in my life, but the best part about them, now, is that the people in my daughter’s world love them as well. When she was younger, we left a supply in the school freezer for unexpected school celebrations and shared them with classmates for her in-class birthday parties. Once her friends tasted the cookies, they started asking for them and so we try to make sure to have some on hand in the freezer for when they come over or when she goes to their houses. One of her closest friends does have a peanut allergy so we make sure to bake some without the peanut butter chips.

Living with celiac disease, more often than not, causes her to be the “other” in food situations. I love that this little cookie can give her a break from feeling like the “other” and provides an easy opportunity to include others in her world.

It is a powerful cookie.

I hope you enjoy!

~Update~

In case you are wondering, I don’t let my kids eat raw cookie dough; on it's own or topped on a freshly baked cookie. The younger version of me thinks, “why not? I did it all the time and was fine.” While the mom part of me says, “I have no interest in inviting Salmonella into our lives. No way!”

I wish I could say that my “eating cookie dough” days ended when I got older, but, I may as well admit that eating cookie dough was a favorite postpartum snack. While I don’t eat cookie dough now, it’s not because it isn’t good for me, I would actually love to have some. Since I’ve gotten older, gone through three pregnancies and gestational diabetes, my relationship with sugar has changed; just another example of how food can either harm or heal.

Anne Barbo Moon

If you would like additional support navigating living Gluten Free…

Disclaimer:

While we have nearly ten years’ experience of navigating the world as the parent of a child with Celiac Disease, we are not physicians, nutritionists, or other licensed medical professionals. The material and content contained in the Services is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for consultation, diagnosis or medical treatment by a licensed medical professional. Please consult your doctor for any medical or health-related questions. The information contained in the Services should NOT be used to disregard medical or health-related advice from a physician or licensed medical professional.