I’ve baked so many chocolate chip cookies through the years, that I stopped needing a recipe. Baking for me, has never been about the cookie. It was me always sharing a piece of my heart. I have always loved watching the face of someone when they take that first bite.
My love of baking all started when I became a mom. Before my daughter was born baking was a box cake and store-bought icing. When my daughter started eating finger foods, I wanted something healthier for her to snack on. So, I researched homemade crackers and healthier baked goods for toddlers. She loved them and I loved making them. For her first birthday, I decided I was going to make the cake. Blue’s Clue cake it was and it came out amazing. I realized then how much I loved baking. I loved reading recipes, mixing the butter and sugar, adding in the flour and waiting patiently to pull whatever creation I made out of the oven. As my daughter started school, I began bringing my homemade baked snacks to the playground and other mothers started to ask me, if I could bake them a batch. With excitement I started baking healthy snacks for other mothers and eventually began charging a fee for my snack bags.
My love of baking pushed me to learn more. I studied ingredients, chocolates and techniques. I collected cookbooks and couldn’t get enough of Martha Stewart. Then I started making chocolate chip cookies by the dozens. Recipe after recipe, switching from this chocolate chip to another chocolate chip. I watched closely when someone would bite into one of my cookies. Their reaction would let me know what recipe needed to be worked on and what recipe to reuse. Until one day I realized I wasn’t following anyone’s recipe anymore. I had created my own chocolate chip cookie recipe.
When I make my famous chocolate chip cookies today and I’m still baking them by the dozens for family and friends. My recipe that I created years ago has not changed. But today when I’m mixing my cookie dough, I pray over the dough. I pray for God to bless whoever receives my cookies. I pray that the first bite brings comfort and love to someone. And that they know how special they are too me.
Every cookie that comes out of oven has been prayed over. That’s the real recipe. Every batch of chocolate chip cookies carries a piece of my heart and covered in prayer.