Food Friday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s Food Friday! Today I am sharing this essay about Chocolate Chip Cookies from my first book, Gold Pans and Iron Skillets. Not to worry – my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is posted at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Can a Cookie Cure a Cold?

In this day of natural health, homeopathic healing, and low-fat everything, it is refreshing to note that a good old chocolate chip cookie is not only a very effective, but often, immediate cure for many ailments. You disagree?

My three-year-old son skinned his knee. He came wailing to find me. Naturally, I was in the kitchen. Tears pouring from his eyes he cried, "I need a cookie!" I leapt to the refrigerator, jerked a zipper bag from the icebox, and produced the miraculous item. He took one bite and promptly announced, “I’m all better now." Amazing, the healing power of the cookie! Not convinced?

My husband of twenty years prefers cookies and milk for breakfast. I’ve tried to convert him to cold cereal. It has more natural and low-fat attributes. He tried some brand of wheat flakes for a few days. We couldn’t stand him! He was a grouch. So I baked and life was better.

While expecting our last child I was counseled to watch my carbohydrate intake. This was traumatic. "Doctor," I complained, "if I have cookies in the house my family is emotionally stable!" While one might discount the power of the chocolate chip cookie to heal open wounds, there is no denying its effect on our mental health.

"Pshaw,” you say? Consider: Offering of food shows love. We give gifts of food to those we love at Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If someone gets married, we feed everyone. If a young man wishes to propose or even seduce, he offers chocolates to sweeten his beloved. We show love to newborns by offering mother's milk. We feed our cats.

Offering service shows love. It is an act of service to prepare a meal or a chocolate chip cookie. We work to make a living to buy food to prepare for those we love. Then we prepare it. Then we share it. Then we clean the kitchen! It is true that the simple and few complex carbohydrates in a chocolate chip cookie have a physical effect that produces a quick sense of comfort and well-being. They raise blood sugar levels and taste delicious! But the emotional effect is far greater. A chocolate chip cookie says, "Someone loves me. Someone took an hour and baked this cookie just for me. Someone cares enough about me to know how much I love chocolate!" And love makes all things a little better. Can a cookie cure a cold? Probably not. But hey, it's worth a shot!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Did you like this post? You can read more like it in Gold Pans and Iron Skillets.

Find more of my favorite recipes HERE.

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