Cookies are such an easy treat.  They can be packed in a lunch box, stuffed in a mouth or held in even the tiniest of hands.  But why fill those little hands and mouths with hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup when you can bake an easy, fresh, and delicious treat which, by the way, tastes even better warm with a tall glass of milk!

Packaged cookies are a convenience that I’d guess most (if not all) of us have purchased at one time or another.  They must be a viable money maker based on the number of brands and varieties that fill nearly an entire supermarket aisle.  Yet, when I compared the ingredients on packaged cookies to those we can make fresh…well, there is no comparison.

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THE COMPARISON: Nabisco Chip’s Ahoy!  vs. Out of the Box Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

(All ingredients followed by an * can be referenced at www.wikipedia.org by clicking on the ingredient.  Please feel free to reference the ingredients on other reputable sites for further information.)

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Nabisco Chip’s Ahoy!

Ingredients:

• enriched flour
  • wheat flour
  • niacin
  • reduced iron
  • thiamine mononitrate [vitamin b1]
  • riboflavin [vitamin b2]
  • folic acid
• semisweet chocolate chips
  • sugar
  • chocolate
  • dextrose [a synonym for corn syrup]
  • cocoa butter
  • soy lecithin* – an emulsifier
• sugar
• partially hydrogenated soybean oil*
• high fructose corn syrup*
• leavening
  • baking soda
  • ammonium phosphate*
• salt
• whey (from milk)
• natural and artificial flavor*
• caramel color*

**All listed product ingredients are taken from product’s package label.  Though Out of the Box Food makes every effort to provide complete ingredient information, please check the package for the most current information.

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Out of the Box Food^SM Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chips Cookies

These cookies satisfy nearly every cookie craving: they’re thin and crisp, yet slightly chewy in the middle.  The perfect combination!

Special Equipment: mixing bowls, baking sheets, parchment paper (optional)

Time: Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 15 minutes

Serves: makes 18-24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 C butter, very soft
• 1/4 C granulated sugar
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 C 70% Cacao Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Step 1:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and sea salt
• In a larger mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, water and vanilla.
• Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until combined.
• Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet.  Leave approximately 3″ of space between balls of dough (cookies will spread considerably when baked)
• Bake at 325 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool.

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Packaged cookies are one of those foods we grab on impulse as we stroll down the supermarket aisles.  We see cookies from our childhood shaped like a peanut or coated in sprinkles and are yanked back in time to a place that was simple and free.  I remember so fondly the taste of the perfectly round cookie my grandmother gave me and the little animal shaped cookies my dolls and I would dine on at our tea parties.  But the truth is that the best memories are those of stirring, measuring and sneaking tastes while mom made something fresh.  Let’s create those memories for our kids.  Freshly baked memories that they’ll want to recreate once their grown.  Let them crave the scent of fresh cookies baking in the oven when they’re adults.  Let them want to recreate their memories of  measuring the flour, drinking the last drop of milk from the measuring cup, licking the spoon, and watching their homemade treats puff and brown in the oven.  Let them remember the feeling of sitting with you, giggling over a freshly baked cookie and cold glass of milk.  This is the time for us to create the memories our children will have for the rest of their lives.  Until next week…