The Recipe That Bonds My Family Together

Every now and again, I run across character traits that leave me wondering if I’m the black sheep of my family. Usually, it’s an action I’ve never seen anyone else do and I wonder, is it me? For instance, I love chocolate chip cookie dough, but I hate the chocolate chips in the dough. Something about the crunchiness turns me off and when the chips aren’t cooked the chocolate messes with the flavor of the dough. I took to standing over a garbage can as I ate the dough, so I could easily spit the chips into the trash; much like biting into watermelon and spitting the seeds out.

I thought I was the only weird genius person to think of such a clever way to save my cookie dough. Then, several years back, during a family vacation, we decided to make chocolate chip cookies for dessert one night. As the baker, I had a few bites of the dough while separating them onto the cookie sheet. Per my usual, I spit the chocolate chips into the trashcan. Later that night, my mom must have gone into the kitchen to steal a piece of the dough and when she pulled out the trashcan to spit her chocolate chips into it, she saw someone had already done the same thing.

We laughed about it for a while that night, especially when my sister admitted to doing the same thing. While I learned a lot about my family that night, I also decided to start making chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips. Now, we can eat the dough without spitting chocolate into the garbage. Thus, savings hundreds of chocolate chips from landfills everywhere.

Do you have any fun or unique traits that have been personified in your recipes? Share your stories in the comment section below!

Since it wouldn’t be Xulon Press Foodie Month without a recipe; I’m sharing my family’s un-chocolate chip cookie recipe below.

Bennett No Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar
1 ½ cups butter or margarine (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Then, beat in vanilla and eggs until well blended. Finally, beat in flour, baking soda and salt.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets and place on cooling racks.