Old Fashion-Timeless Treat by Sharon Davis

Sharon Davis, a 44 year old woman, junior at Fairleigh Dickinson University, full-time employee for the State Of New Jersey, mother of three God-Given children, whom she loves so very much.  Sharon values family time with her children and family.  Sharon is the youngest of five.  She enjoys traveling, party planning, shopping, taking care of her elderly parents; she enjoys watching cooking shows as well as trying out new restaurants and different foods of other cultures.  She believes that the array of foods has given her better views of life.  Sharon values family because she realized; one will never know when the last time they will see or speak to a loved one again.  She enjoyed listening her grandmother telling stories about how she was raised, and how she had to survive, by working on the farm and live off the food they raised.  Being able to share stories over cooking as her grandmother did, Sharon now passes down this tradition to her children; while teaching them some of the same family morals and values, she has.  Her goals are to continue to share the love that she received as a child with her children by spending time with them as her grandmother did with her and her other family members.  

 “Ever wondered about the history of chocolate chip cookies? Find out more, complete with chocolate chip cookie recipe! Many haven’t realized the creation of chocolate chip cookie was a complete accident. Ruth Wakefield was all out of baker's chocolate, so she used a semisweet chocolate bar instead”.

My grandmother stood all of 5’3, curvy, soft spoken, wise, no nonsense, diligent worker, homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, and confident, born and raised in South Carolina. As children we understood and respected that her cooking and baking skills were from her rearing in a small town called Dillon, South Carolina, the cuisine was mainly based on Southern Style cooking which is called “Soul Food”. She taught each of the girls that we should learn how to cook and bake. This worked in our favor, as we became older we experimented with the dishes taught to us as children and teenagers.
          
One of our favorite treats to watch as children and for her to make, was having homemade chocolate chip cookies with a bowl of vanilla ice cream.  From the sweet smell of the kitchen, to the hot cookies being placed on the table, straight out of the hot oven; makes me think about how my grandmother would make and serve this treat, as long as there was some Vanilla Ice Cream in the freezer or milk in the refrigerator to enhance this tasty treat. This is a treat that any family member can partake and enjoy anytime, whether it’s a cold winter night or a hot summer day; as this dish has been around for many years. Majority of times, my grandmother would make the cookies and afterwards we would sit and enjoy the company and conversation while eating this old fashion treat. Not only did this exceptional time bring us together, as it provided a wonderful, delightful indulgence, a treat that allowed us to share how the week went.

My grandmother would prepare the cookies in advance for our arrival. She would go to the store to make sure there were always enough ingredients for us; if any ingredients were missing, she would send two of us to the corner store to pick up the missing ingredient(s); (which wasn’t much). This was a pleasurable trip this was important to us because it made us feel that we were taking part of the making of the chocolate chip cookies.

For the chocolate chip cookies, she used Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Chip cookie recipe located on the back of the bags of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate baking pieces. Hershey’s recipe is good but, my grandmother would make them her own by adding more chips to the recipe, which turned out to be our favorite.  So, the most important ingredient was the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Baking piece! The recipe on the back called for 2 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Chips but, she used a bag and a half to create that gooey cookie, as Hershey’s recipe required a package.

The suggestion on the back of Hersey’s Milk Chocolate Baking pieces stated it would be best to have the oven would already pre-heated which my grandmother did, I assumed she had the temperature of the oven right, between 325 to 350 degrees, because the kitchen was warmer than any other part of the house; but the directions for the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s bag said to “preheat the oven to 375”. When we entered into the house one by one at different times and noticed that all the ingredients were on the kitchen table. Exciting we knew that we would be enjoying homemade chocolate chip cookies. On the table were the mixing bowls, electric mixer, spatula, wooden spoons, and cookie sheets.  Since the oven could hold two cookie sheets there were always four: two she used for the baking and the other two used for preparation.

She took the time to bake while with us being there, she would first use the small combining two and a quarter cups of flour, one teaspoon baking soda, and a teaspoon of salt. Then, in the larger bowl, she would combine two sticks of butter (room temperature – softened), three quarter cup of granulated sugar, a cup of packed brown sugar, an a teaspoon of vanilla extract, at times she would add nuts. Next she would use the mixer, beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla, while slowly adding two large eggs, one at a time.  At this point, she would add the original dry mix into the wet mixture; this was done on a constant basis.  Last, she poured in the essential ingredient, the chocolate chips pieces.

Using a spoon to scoop the cookie dough from the bowl and place a spoonful onto the baking sheet about ten to twelve spoonfuls of dough, which could possibly generate about twenty (20) to twenty-four (24) cookies at a time. During this time she would place two cookie sheets into the preheated oven, wait for the timer to go off, that took about ten minutes: as the recipe on the back of the bag of Hersey’s Milk Chocolate Chips suggested. This seemed to be the best time because the cookies didn’t over or undercook, the cookies would be just right, hot and gooey.  While this set of cookies would be baking she, began to prepare another batch of the cookie dough to put into the oven, reset the timer, and repeat this process over again.  She would allow the freshly-baked cookies to cool, and then loosening them from cookie sheet with a spatula.  This process was done until the cookie dough ran out, as it left enough cookies to last for at least a week.  She would store them in the glass cookie jars which sat on each side of the counter.

Even through the process of baking cookies, she allowed us to have a small bowl with one or two scoops of vanilla ice cream, although the cookies were still warm, we would sit and eat this delicious treat, as the other batch of cookies baked.  At times we were allowed to have just the cookies, after they had cooled off, which may have caused one or more of us to have a belly ache, it was well worth it to us, as kids.   

Our mouths watered for the taste of that first bit of gooey, hot chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream, a wonderful, delightful, delicious, homemade treat. As the warm cookies from the oven melted the ice cream, the finished product also melted in our mouths. 

We looked forward to those days that we could share some family time and stories. My grandmother shared her wisdom and at the same time passed down the tradition of baking chocolate chip cookies to us. We had the chance to see the love, care, and dedication she had for her grandchildren. Now all grown up with children ourselves, and some with grandchildren, we are no longer children sitting at her table waiting and yearning for this treat.

Being one of the eldest grandchildren, the relationship with her was dear to all of us, but for me I felt closer than the others because I was a sickly child. It seemed that she paid me more attention to because of my sickness. Our bond was like a bright- warm sunny day that gave me that warmness. I was to feel the warmth of love, care, understanding, respect, joy, and peacefulness, as it elated my soul and spirit, until the day she left (died), that when I felt my whole world would come to an end; this feeling reminded me of a dark cloud on a rainy day. 

Today, I still bake chocolate chip cookies with my children, as I see the same anticipation in their eyes that we had for the chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. I hope that I can pass this tradition on to my children and it will carry on for more generations to come as it has done over the years.  I enjoy having them take part in such a tradition.  It seems homemade cookies are better because of the love and time which are put into them.  Baking chocolate chip cookies still evokes memories of my grandmother.

History of Chocolate Chip Cookie, Fact about chocolate, Hersheys