Is there anything like chocolate chip cookies? I mean there are other delicious baked goods like pies, bars, brownies and cakes. There are even other fabulous cookies. But the chocolate chip cookie is comfort food at it's finest. Your mom maybe sent you some in college, which though they were days old and had been who knows where by the time they got to you, stopped you in your tracks and reminded you of all that was important in life. Maybe you even broke down into tears right there in the mail room...anyone?
Chocolate chip cookies live in my earliest baking memories. The ones where I am sitting on the kitchen counter wearing a child size apron that says "Mother's little helper" on the front and stirring with a wooden spoon. I am using a wooden spoon either because electric mixers had not yet become household appliances, my parents were too strapped to buy one or because my mother wisely chose not to turn me loose with such a dangerous power tool. I do remember the first time I used one though. I think it was chocolate chip cookies again that we were making, and the thing seemed to move on it's own-right out of the bowl in fact! Anyway, clearly they have improved the design since then...and the colors.
Chocolate chip cookies used to take hours to make! Each ingredient seemed to require a trip to a different cabinet, a new measuring device, and knowing my mother, probably a washing of the hands. Once all that was done, we had to wait for them to bake and then cool. By that time I had moved onto something else and was so excited all over again when they were ready to eat, because, "What? We made cookies? That's right! It was so long ago, I forgot!" Yeah, let's go have cookies everyone!
Maybe it was because of all the delayed gratification that I got hooked on the dough or maybe it was just because the dough was so delicious! I mean come on, can anyone resist the power of cookie dough? I had a babysitter once who was making ccc's with us and once the dough was done she said, "Okay, everyone can use their finger to take a lick of dough." I think she meant off of the beaters, but I went hand in the bowl style and came back up with a couple of cookies worth of dough. "Jessica! I said a lick of dough!" She gasped. But I put fist to mouth so fast she didn't know what to do. I kept my mouth on the lump of dough until it was gone lest she make me put it back or something awful.
Recently I was at a friend's house who had made the most amazing ccc's ever! I knew it was a slightly different recipe than the Toll House, but didn't know how different until she gave me the recipe (which I of course insisted on). It uses...are you ready for this? A cake mix. I tried it at home and felt so weird baking the dough (which didn't taste the same). The cookies came out and looked just like hers did...but somehow the magic was gone. They didn't taste the same, in fact the more I tried them, the less I liked them! And it wasn't until a week or so later when I was making oatmeal cranberry cookies that I realized you can't shortcut the comfort factor out of cookies. You can enjoy packaged cookies such as Pepperidge Farm or some such at a baby shower or even from a coffee bar, but if you feel like making ccc's at home, it's about so much more than the finished product! It's about the way using your old worn mixing bowl makes you feel. It's about the way the ingredients seem to form a poem as you combine them. The way the brown sugar holds it's measuring cup form even after it's been dumped in the bowl. The white sugar cascading down off of the butter sticks makes a mountain. And even if it's imitation, the smell of vanilla-oh, the smell of vanilla!
