If you give a kid a cookie

Have you ever watched a kid eat a cookie? First, they take a little nibble, but since the arc of the cookie's diameter and the arc of their mouth work in opposition, the little corners of the bite out of the cookie break off and scatter down the front of their shirt. (Note: they stick better to sweaters, the fuzzier, the better.) The next bite is where life experience makes all the difference: an adult would turn the cookie and go for one of the protruding points. Not the kid. They pick up where they left off, jamming the cookie farther in, which means lots more crumbs (and even more if the cookie is gluten-free). If it’s a chocolate chip cookie, this is where the first smudge of chocolate on the side of their mouth comes from. (An aside: they apply the same methodology to watermelon, which explains how they get so incredibly sticky.) A really young child will continue in this way until the cookie snaps in two and they have to scramble for the crumbs, or cry because their cookie broke.

This only applies to homemade cookies, since they’re “more better than store cookies,” a direct quote from my Little One. His classmate today declared that “store soup” wasn’t nearly as good as “home soup” but she was going to eat it anyway ‘cause she was hungry. I hope her dad has some time to make “home cookies” today like Little One’s mom did. There’s just nothing more better than a homemade, crumbly, chocolately smile.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together:
½ cup butter or shortening
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg (or use egg replacer)

Add gradually:
1½ cups GF flour (I use rice/starch based)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon xanthan gum

That’s the basic cookie. Now you can add the stuff that makes it interesting, like 1 cup of chocolate chips, or coated chocolate candies, or toffee bits, or nuts, or…?

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes or until golden. Do not overbake. Makes about 4 dozen 3” cookies.