The healing power of baking.

BY MELISSA GILLESPIE

Melissa Gillespie is a high school counselor with a background in bereavement, Harry Potter marathons, and tutu dance parties, with an affinity for all things pizza and Disneyland. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and can be found online at gillespiemelissa.com or on Twitter @themelgillespie.

There’s something to be said about being in the kitchen and the melodic, tranquil nature of mixing things together to create something new. The whir of the mixer. The tap of measuring cups. The feel of dusting flour off your hands. And, who are we kidding, the taste of batter that you sneak just to make sure it tastes good. 

Baking has always been a go-to for me at times of stress because it gives space for structure, purpose, and creativity all at once. Just ask the millions of people who learned how to make bread in the past year during COVID shutdowns. There was over a month-long period where you couldn’t find any type of flour at the grocery store and had to stockpile the sugar for your coffee whenever you found a bag. 

While it was frustrating at times, it also made me happy that people had come to find the same type of self-care in the kitchen that I had. Prior to the pandemic, I would bake cookies to find calm, then use my coworkers as taste testers (knowing my husband would say they were delicious no matter what). Each season had a different dedicated flavor, and each coworker had a specific request for their birthday. Snickerdoodles, molasses, shortbread, peanut butter, mint, sugar, and of course, chocolate chip. 

While I know almost everyone out there has their own go-to Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, I’ve included mine below just in case. According to my professional taste testers, an entire department of educators, it has been deemed the favorite of all cookies I make. 

Here’s to hoping that this recipe will bring you a little joy along with the sugar rush and that the world will be in a place soon where we can again share our baking successes with the people we love. Happy baking, and be sure to share your favorite recipes below too! 

Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Ingredients: 

1 cup shortening 

¾ cup granulated sugar 

¾ cup packed brown sugar 

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla (plus a little extra for extra deliciousness) 

1 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp salt 

¼ cup vanilla instant pudding mix (still in powder form) 

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour 

2 cups chocolate chips (of your favorite size and type of chocolate) 

Steps: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

2. In a mixing bowl, cream together shortening, white sugar, and brown sugar on medium; keep going 1-2 minutes after fully mixed. 

3. Add 2 eggs and the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. I tend to eyeball the vanilla instead of measuring it, just because I think vanilla flavor is so delicious. 

4. Add the baking soda, salt, and vanilla pudding mix, and mix on low. 

5. Slowly add the flour ½ cup at a time until the flour is fully mixed in. 

6. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand to be sure they are evenly mixed throughout the whole bowl. I tend to use semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a mix of jumbo and regular sizes. You could also use milk or dark chocolate, or a mix of a few. 

7. Scoop tablespoon-sized scoops onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (this saves you some dishwashing later). Make sure they’re around the same size so that the baking time is the same for all cookies. 

8. Cook for 8 ½ minutes. Depending on your oven and the size of your scoops, you may need an additional minute or two; only bake the cookies for an extra minute at a time to make sure you don’t overbake. 

For the best cookie, it should be golden brown around the edge and look just a little soft in the middle. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet to cool for at least 8-10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. 

Helpful tips: 

● Chill the cookie dough in the fridge in between each batch to make sure that the dough doesn’t get too warm. Sometimes I’ll cover the bowl with plastic wrap or put it in a sealed container so that my husband and I can have fresh baked cookies several days in a row. 

● Use dark brown sugar for a richer tasting cookie (this is my husband’s favorite)

● Add a sprinkle of sea salt on the scoop of cookie dough before baking 

● Eat as many as you want (duh) 

● Wait until they are completely cooled before putting them in a cookie jar or sealed container