Recycla thinks we all can agree that cookies are among the most important food groups for humans. (The other ones being chocolate, Italian, and au gratin.)
Her daughters certainly agree and every Sunday evening as she is putting the week’s grocery list together, she is often besieged with requests for things like ginger snaps, oatmeal raisin cookies, and Newman-O’s (the organic version of Oreos).
While Recycla will occasionally indulge the need for Newman-O’s, she is generally of the opinion that cookies are best when homemade. So if her kids want cookies in their lunchboxes or after dinner, they’re going to make them.
Recycla doesn’t particularly enjoy baking, but she does it because her family eats better that way. No high fructose corn syrup or other hard-to-pronounce ingredients. She tends to make cookies that don’t need to be rolled out and that can be simply dropped onto the cookie sheets. When she mixes up a batch, she freezes half of the dough for a later time — they don’t need four dozen cookies in one sitting and it’s nice to have some already-made dough in the freezer for those times when her daughters’ friends swarm the house.
Most of her recipes either come from The Joy of Cooking or the backs of bags of chocolate chips. Cookies don’t need to be fancy or complicated, so she suggests that you stick with the tried-and-true recipes that have been around for decades. Also, any recipe that is touted as being lower in fat or sugar is probably going to taste terrible, so don’t waste your time. Just make the real thing and savor it.
One thing that has been the Holy Grail of cookies for Recycla’s kids is Nilla Wafers because she refuses to buy them — in her opinion, they’re not all that good unless they’re mixed into banana pudding, not to mention the ingredients turn her off. Last year, she was at Whole Foods noticed that they sold Vanilla Wafers. For some strange reason, she broke the “no store-bought cookies” rule. Her girls loved them. They raved so much, in fact, that she tried one too. Oh heavens, those things were GOOD. Crispy and buttery and very vanilla-y. Then she got to wondering if homemade Vanilla Wafers might be even better.
Recycla went online and found several recipes and tried this one. The recipe was so simple that her then nine-year-old daughter did almost all of the work in mixing things up and plopping the cookies on the baking sheet. The results were quite excellent. The quality of the ingredients was evident in every bite.
So the next time you have a hankering for some milk and cookies, don’t buy pre-packaged crap-laden ones — whip up a batch of the real thing.
Tell the Eco Women: What is your favorite cookie?
Photo credits: Yahoo Images.
I’m going to try making those vanilla wafers–I might become even more beloved here if I do!
Oatmeal raisin. Yum. Simple, nutritious, and delicious.
Mmm…mine might be the dark chocolate and tart cherry cookies from Martha Stewart’s cookie book. I do like soft snickerdoodles and good old chewy chocolate chip cookies, too. My spouse loves Nilla Wafers, though we no longer buy them, so I’ll have to try making them! I also want to attempt my own Thin Mints. After hearing about the connection between palm oil and deforestation in Girl Scout Cookies, I can’t bear to buy them anymore.
My son’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (from the Joy of Cooking).
I totally agree with you about making your own cookies. I decided to get more serious about cutting back on waste so I made a rule not to buy anymore pre-made cookies. I don’t mind baking and it’s a great opportunity to spend quality time with my son. Our standby is chocolate chip but I also love to make peanut butter or oatmeal cranberry. My son loves anything with icing so his favorite is iced sugar cookies.