Connected through Baking: The Comfort of Chocolate Chip Cookies

While staying safely at home, baking has become a go-to activity for many families. Many people are enjoying trying new recipes for innovative treats like biscotti and brownies in a mug, yet it’s often the comfort of a good old chocolate chip cookie that continues to bring families together in the kitchen.

One of my proudest accomplishments is that I was the first person to bake chocolate chip cookies with my little cousin Leah, now in her 30s. I remember feeling partly dumbfounded and partly excited to find out that, at age 5, she had never made them before. So, I stocked her family’s cupboard with vanilla, chocolate chips and brown sugar and we had a great time. It became our tradition to bake these treats whenever I visited her and her younger brother in Boston, and she loves hearing about my children’s baking escapades today.  

I usually use the recipe on the back of whatever chocolate chip bag I have. But my cousin recently shared with me that she successfully made The Joy of Cooking’s recipe for chocolate chip cookies, so I decided to try it out. The cookies turned out thin and crispy like our favorite store-bought cookies. My son Eli especially enjoyed dunking them in an oversized glass of milk. 

Flourless option

While it seems the whole world is trying out the Doubletree cookie recipe, which the hotel generously shared recently, for another baking adventure, I chose a similar, flourless version by Rachel Mansfield. Almond and oat flours provide the base for the cookie, while chocolate chips and walnuts are stirred in, similar to the hotel recipe. The cookies turned out thick, chewy and delicious, an instant family favorite. 

Kayla Whitman, in seventh grade at the Emery/Weiner School, also recently tried her hand at flourless chocolate chip cookies. She wanted to find a new Passover treat to make, and her family really enjoyed this recipe from As Easy as Apple Pie, a food blog. These cookies are gluten-free and have cocoa in the batter to amp up the chocolate content. 

A family tradition

Hilary Most loves baking with her kids, Riley, Bella and Rory, in fourth grade, second grade and kindergarten at Parker Elementary School, and her youngest son Blake. When they bake her own grandmother’s cookie recipe, they all get to share in a family tradition, which results in something sweet. 

Hilary’s grandmother used to make these delicious cookies. “When we’d go to Florida, it was always a fight over who could get to the fridge fast enough,” she said. “They were famous! My aunt says we’d eat the crumbs off the floor! ” The use of powdered sugar and egg yolks without the whites make these cookies unique and memorable. 

Learning opportunity

Erica Goldberg is reading the book Mistakes That Worked by Charlotte Jones with her two kids, Avital and Ilan in first grade and Pre-K at Beth Yeshurun Day School. One chapter discusses the creation of the Nestle Tollhouse cookie by Ruth Wakefield, so her kids wanted to bake them.

While home from school, this cooking project turned into a reading, math and history lesson all in one. They had fun baking - and eating - these classic cookies. Mom Erica said she also couldn’t help but laugh while remembering the Friends episode where Phoebe baked her grandmother’s famous “Nes-lay Tooloos” cookies.

Combo cookies 

Siblings Daphne and Ian Kaufman, in seventh grade at Pin Oak Middle School and in fourth grade at Lovett Elementary School, love to watch cooking shows and then come up their own spin on recipes. A favorite of theirs is their “Brookie” cupcakes, or as Ian calls them, “Crownies!” They’ve made up their own recipe, similar to this one.

This brownie-cupcake concoction contains a cookie dough center and is easy to make with brownie mix and store-bought cookie dough. Daphne shares that they always make cookies from any extra dough. “We can’t put it to waste,” she says.  They enjoy baking together and then sharing videos on TikTok. 

What are you baking these days? Let us know in the comments.

Editor’s note: See more on baking during the stay-at-home order: homemade banana bread, creative coronavirus-themed cakes and the legendary Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies.