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Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Lauren | Celiac Teen on June 14, 2010

Whenever anyone asks me about my first memories in the kitchen, chocolate chip cookies are bound to come up. So, when Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef asked people to post the first thing they ever made as a kid, there was no hesitation. Chocolate chip cookies – mom’s chocolate chip cookies – were the only thing I would write about. I could write about the process of making them, the excitement of being able to stir in the chocolate chips for the first time, the smell that would emerge from the oven, surrounding us in the dream of cookies, all day. The hard part was figuring them out. You see, I’ve been trying to find the perfect blend of flours since day one of being gluten-free. Some were good, and some were awesome, but none were mom’s cookies. Until these.

It was perfect timing. My friend and I had just finished our last day of school and had poured over our yearbooks. We had read through our notes trying to study and make sure that we would be prepared for our exams. But we needed some food. We needed to bake. After realizing that everything was not an option, cookies – mom’s chocolate chip cookies – came to mind. So that’s what we made. They turned out perfect. Just like mom’s. Just the way I wanted them.

Now instead of rattling on about how this batch came to be, you must know all about why I wanted this batch to desperately. In fact, I wrote an entire essay based on this fact last year. It started like this…Walking into a room, smelling freshly baked cookies is the best. Although that essay was about something somewhat unrelated to this, the fact that it is something I can so readily write about shows it’s importance to me.

To this day, there is not a smell that better brightens my day than a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. It was not an uncommon occurrence to arrive home to cookies that had just left the oven. Sometimes they would be whipped together as an interval to the street hockey out front, and other times they would be brought to potlucks or quietly eaten at home. The best memories though, those come from the process of making them.

At first I would just watch her create these amazing little bites of heaven with no apparent effort. However, as time went on, I gained the privilege to be able to help. It started out that I would stir – before the chocolate chips were added, as they were too tough for my tiny arms – but, as I grew I would be able to measure out ingredients like the flour or the sugar. I vividly remember one time that we made a double batch, with the enormous airy mound of flour which sat on top before we slowly stirred it in. First, huge streaks of white all-purpose would weave there way through the creamed margarine-sugar, until nothing but a memory of the flour remained.

Once I hit the big leagues, I got to crack the egg. Watching the semi-translucent slime that made up the white, and the slightly firmer bright yellow yolk slide into the bowl was always very satisfying. The only downside was sticking my fingers into the egg to retrieve any shell fragments that had made their way there. When I got really good at it, I was able to crack the egg straight into the bowl, and eventually I could stir in the chocolate chips all by myself. Then there was the big issue of putting the unbaked cookie dough blobs into the incredibly hot oven. That had always been Mom’s job, but one day she let me grasp the homemade steel sheet and concentrating with every fibre of my being, slide it into the oven. It was awhile before I was able (or willing!) to take it out of the oven, but when that time came, I was very careful and well-supervised.

The absolute worst part of all this was waiting. Especially when my brother and I were really young, the “ping ping ping” of the timer seemed like it would never come. The moment the timer rang, an air of impatience took us over. We would jump up, badgering Mom to get the cookies out of the oven. Sometimes we would sit in front of the oven, watching it work it’s magic as the dough flowed out, rose up and rumpled into the all-too-familiar shape. It always was a very big wait, made worse by the fact that we couldn’t eat the cookies as soon as they got out of the oven. The smell alone of the baked goodness, especially the chocolate became an irresistible siren that worked by encapsulating us in the scent. Once we were finally allowed to eat the cookies, we would savour every bite, letting the melted chocolate dissolve into our mouths along with the rest of the cookie.

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Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Mom’s recipe. Adaptation by Lauren of Celiac Teen.
Ingredients

1 (1/2 cup) stick butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 to 1 tsp vanilla (she always eyeballs it)
1/3 cup millet flour (1.80 oz)
1/4 cup tapioca flour (1.15 oz)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour (0.65 oz)
2 tbsp quinoa flour (0.75 oz)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Steps

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy in a large bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a second bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (all but the chocolate chips). Dump dry ingredients into butter mixture, and stir slowly until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto silpat-lined (this makes them just like I remember. An ungreased one will do as well though!) cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until browned and done.


This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Okay, so honestly, mom made hers with margarine. But the butter made it more like my memories. Also, we never greased our cookie sheets, but doing so made it so much more true to my memories. In this case, for me, it’s all about what I remember. These ones hit that mark, so I’m keeping them like this.


I remember standing on a chair, staring at trays of cookies like these, just waiting for the moment when they wouldn’t burn my tongue. It felt like hours, and we inevitably ate them a few minutes too early, covering our hands in the most messy, most satisfying way possible.

See? These aren’t bad, but just not the same. Although, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at them if I was offered. I’d dig in, in fact.

Perfect.  I’m sure your memories are different from mine.  Unless you grew up around the corner.

Now I’m seriously wondering why I didn’t make a second batch.  It’s an unanswerable question.  I need another one of these.  Please.  Pretty please.

Okay, that’s it.  This week.  Another batch.  (Not to interfere with exams though, obviously.)

We don’t have any photos of mom and I making cookies, but we do have this one.  I was three and we were making a “kitty cat cake” for Halloween.  Chocolate, from a mix (I loved those mixes!).  But that’s a whole other post.  Oh, and don’t even get me started on Easy Bake Ovens.  Those will have to wait for another day :).

So, if you haven’t already – go write about your first thing you made in the kitchen – I can’t wait to read them all!  Also, go check out Shauna’s round-up!  I’m positive that these memories are some of the most powerful.  They set our foundations and love for food.

xoxo
Lauren

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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }

Tessa June 14, 2010 at 12:37 am

Now I want chocolate chip cookies as a midnight snack (I just post comments on your blog at all hours of the day hahah ((french toast post)). I just LOVE that last picture of you as a child. I wish we could have Easy-Baked together as kids 🙂

Zoe @ Z's Cup of Tea June 14, 2010 at 2:10 am

How beautiful, Lauren. 🙂 Who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies? They always seem to hit the spot in a way that other cookies don’t always.

Theresa June 14, 2010 at 3:19 am

Wow, you totally encaptulated all of those kitchen memories! I don’t remember chocolate chip cookies, but I definitly remember that amazing feeling when you first take the tray out of the oven or crack an egg. There’s nothing like baking with Mum ay! [Although now I find it difficult, our recipes get mixed up because I measure LARGE cups and she measures small ones… not a good mix! haha!]
I’ll have to make those cookies soon… but not let them get in the way of my assignments. 🙁

kim @ affairs of living June 14, 2010 at 6:22 am

oh my, these look GOOD. thanks for my morning dose of food porn, and on a sweeter note, such a heart-warming tale of cookies! xoxo Kim

Kirsty June 14, 2010 at 6:54 am

Lauren – these look delicious! I’m going to try them tonight! Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Cheryl Arkison June 14, 2010 at 7:03 am

My girls totally sit in front of the oven. The Monster giving me play by play of the changes taking shape!

Kim Maes June 14, 2010 at 11:10 am

Lauren, your post perfectly captured the memories of baking with your Mom. I, too, remember waiting at the oven door for my Mom’s chocolate chip cookies to come out. I think cookies were my second food memory, after the tapioca pudding! What a wonderful story of cookies. Oh, and that picture …. soo adorable ;0)

Jackie Baisa June 14, 2010 at 11:57 am

Oh, these look amazing. I remember my mom and I made snickerdoodles a lot. Cookies are so much fun to bake. 🙂

Kristin @ Peace, Love and Muesli June 14, 2010 at 1:44 pm

Yummy! I tried some the other day with Bob’s Red Mills gluten free all purpose. But I wasn’t in love. Will try yours.
Your blog is very pretty. I’m sorry I didn’t visit sooner.

kamran siddiqi June 14, 2010 at 10:18 pm

Aww! Little Lauren in the last photo!!

Loved this post through-and-through! Now, I can finally make these amazing cookies that you have been telling me about! What a great memory!

Jennie June 15, 2010 at 4:17 am

Big mistake reading this post at 6:00am. Now, all I want to do is go bake chocolate chip cookies. They look yum, and you’re so inspiring.

maybelles mom June 15, 2010 at 9:45 am

First the post makes me think, I need to get someone to take pictures of my daughter and i cooking together. And, second, i totally agree about the waiting. it just felt like forever.

CatieP June 16, 2010 at 10:29 am

Those cookies look drool worthy – and I wish I could emphasize that more. Now I need to find a source for Quinoa flour – I wonder what my husband will say when I add yet another flour to the cupboard 🙂

gfe--gluten free easily June 16, 2010 at 10:00 pm

What a sweet, sweet post in every way! Love that photo of you … just adorable. 🙂 Classic chocolate chip cookies … extremely hard to top those!

Shirley

SnoWhite June 17, 2010 at 10:28 am

Lauren — these look sooo great!

Richard L Hobbs June 18, 2010 at 6:07 am

Thanks for this I will pass this onto my sister-in-law as my nephew has an egg allergy and it has been really hard to find recopies that don’t use eggs.

If I am lucky I will get to eat some too.

Richard L Hobbs June 18, 2010 at 12:21 pm

HAHA so i totally got carried away with the pictures and didn’t read properly that there are eggs in this, boo.

Still i might try and make it anyway.

Sophie June 20, 2010 at 3:12 am

What a lovely post this is & what a cute photo of you when you were young!!

These chocolate chip gluten free cookies look like the real thing!! So appetizing too!

You have one cool foodblog!

Ariane Stassek December 29, 2010 at 10:11 am

Lauren,

I’m so impressed with your website! The writing and pictures are awesome! Have yet to try one of your recipes, but I’ve copied & pasted quite a few. ;o) My husband (29) was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease and that sent my kitchen into a screeching halt…or so I thought – THANKS to you, the Gluten Free Goddess, the Gluten Free Girl and the Chef, and a few others I stumble upon.

Rock on!

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