I have yet to find a person who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies.
I also have yet to find a person who can eat them and not seem a little bit happier while eating them.
So one could make the conclusion that chocolate chip cookies make people happy.
Celebrations call for chocolate chip cookies.
Hard conversations mandate chocolate chip cookies.
Tough stuff means chocolate chip cookies.
So I always have chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer.
When I need to go somewhere and don’t have anything to take: chocolate chip cookies.
When we have unexpected or last minute guests: chocolate chip cookies.
When my kids have a great day, or week, or it’s just Friday night: chocolate chip cookies.
Whenever I serve chocolate chip cookies, I feel like I’m feeding more than just bellies. Whether it be the process of making them with my kids…flour covering the counter tops and floor, and chocolate chips being snuck into mouths; or the care put into their delivery and the conversations had over them. Chocolate Chip Cookies made and served with love feeds souls.
I make a massive batch of cookie dough (sensing a theme in how I cook? Make lots of everything and stick it in the freezer!). We bake some up on the spot, because tasting should always be the reward for baking, and I roll the rest up in plastic wrap, then put them in a galloon freezer bag for extra protection and pop them in the freezer for a later date.
Just like my muffins, I like my cookies to be healthy. I think cookies are one of the easiest baked goods to sub out healthy ingredients with no one being the wiser! People love these before I tell them that they are healthy, and they love them even more after I tell them because they don’t feel as bad about eating 5.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 sticks of room temperature butter (1 lb.)
4 cups coconut sugar
4 eggs
6 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 12 oz. bags of chocolate chips (use a combination of Ghirardelli: dark, semi-sweet and mini)
Optional: oatmeal, pecans, coconut, dried fruit
Preheat over to 350 degrees F.
You’re going to need a big bowl for these. Like at least 6 quarts. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs in one at a time, then mix in vanilla. Add salt, baking powder, and baking soda and stir in well. Add flour in 1-2 cup increments, slowly incorporating. When all the flour has been thoroughly mixed in stir in chocolate chips and optional add-ins.
I usually scoop out enough for 1 -2 rolls of plain chocolate chip cookies for the purists. From there, sometimes I add cranberries and oatmeal, or pecans and coconut. Both are delicious, but the coconut and pecan chocolate chip cookies are my personal favorite!
Place rounded teaspoons of dough onto baking sheet a couple inches apart. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly on pan before removing to cooling rack or plate.
I think one of the chief sins of cookie baking is over baking, so be sure to avoid that at all costs!
I love being able to put a plate of warm cookies in front of people who need it. I love talking around a table with these in the center. Chewing on one as I listen to one of my kids share, and laughing all the way to the front door after company leaves with a few more in their hands. I love showing up with these and seeing a big smile as they gladly take them from me before letting me in the door. I’ve walked into the hardest of circumstances dressed in black tightly clutching a platter of these, and have had a pity party of 1 with a cup of tea and and a cookie on my own hard days. I love them in lunch-boxes with notes, and on teachers desks with a thank you card. On snowy days after sledding with hot chocolate and on hot days with lemonade, chocolate chip cookies are the little black dress of dessert…they go with everything, and you can make them work for any occasion.
I’ve seen them over and over feed souls and not just bellies. May I Do the Hard Thing and Feed Souls as efficiently as my chocolate chip cookies seem to.
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This post is part of the #write31days challenge hosted by The Nester.
Click here to read all the posts in the 31 days of Doing the Hard Thing series.
