Starting A Cookie Ministry
by Heather Koerner on 05/13/2008 at 12:00 PM
I think the emphasis for May in my daughter's Sunday school class is "helping others." At least, that's the gist I got from the calendar she brought home from church which listed different ways to help others on different dates. Things like "pick strawberries for a neighbor" and "clean your room on National Clean Your Room Day."
But, among the different dates was one that made me stop. May 15th. National Chocolate Chip Day.
Can that be right, I wondered? So, I did a little checking and yep, the National Confectioners Association has dubbed May 15th, this Thursday, to be National Chocolate Chip Day.
Normally, I'm not all that into, you know, pagan holidays. But this is one I could really sink my teeth into (he, he). I also liked the encouragement of "helping others," so ... what to do with chocolate chip cookies? Turns out, my church needs some for their cookie ministry (the deacons take cookies after church each Sunday to each new visiting family because, I don't know, nothing woos the lost like delectable brown sugar, butter and pieces of cocoa delight).
Then, the words started echoing in my mind. Cookie. Ministry. Cookie. Ministry. So, here's my invitation (to girls and guys alike--both my husband and my brother-in-law make some mean chocolate chip cookies): Will you join my family in celebrating National Chocolate Chip Day? But, remember, we want to do ministry. So, maybe you could take some cookies to your church staff. Or to the homeless. Or to your neighbors that you haven't met yet. Or to those people at work that kind of annoy you (just make sure they don't read this blog).
I know that there are some big problems in this world. And cookies won't solve them. But, who knows? Maybe we could shine just a little of God's love in our own little corners of the world--one cookie at a time.
By the way, here's a recipe celebrating National Chocolate Chip Day that I'm going to try. Maybe Ted can perfect it after he wraps up that chicken wing thing.
1. Tami said the following at 12:24 PM on May 13:
What a fun idea! If I have time I'd love to bring some in to work, and share with a friend I'm seeing that night. :)
In the spirit of testing out different recipes... if you're Alton Brown-ily inclined, he did an episode on chocolate chip cookies where he tried out three different recipes for three different types of c.c. cookies (the thin, the puffy, and the chewy). The recipes are on Food Network's website.
It was interesting to learn more about how different ratios of ingredients, and different cooking methods, influence a recipe's outcome.
2. kaj said the following at 1:39 PM on May 13:
Yes. Cookies are good.
I used to work in a high-stress retail-oriented environment. I started bringing in cookies at least once a month because I observed that no one would do anything for my coworkers to boost their morale. (The company was very stingy in that regard--the polar opposite of a company like Google.)
3. Margaret said the following at 2:11 PM on May 13:
Several people in my church are involved in a prison ministry. Twice a year they go in to witness, and bring several thousand dozen cookies, one bag of a dozen cookies for each person there. It's pretty amazing to hear their stories of how much a simple bag of cookies meant to the inmates.
4. BDB said the following at 2:13 PM on May 13:
Yum!
Coincidentally, Thursday I'm scheduled to bring dessert to my small group. I was planning to make Chocolate Mousse - from INGREDIENTS!
But, if that doesn't work, I haven't baked cookies in a long time. That can be my back-up plan...
5. Patty said the following at 2:14 PM on May 13:
Sounds like a great recipe! I am definitely going to try it out. I don't have anyone at home to appreciate them, but I know my coworkers will=)
6. Katie said the following at 3:02 PM on May 13:
I love this idea! Chi Alpha Campus Ministry @ Idaho State brings cookies to every new person who shows up to their weekly meeting. they have a staff member that is exclusively responsible for this ministry. Chi Alpha at Montana State bakes cookies for every incoming freshman! What is this welcoming power that cookies have?!
7. Jo said the following at 3:19 PM on May 13:
Fabulous idea.
My church used to do 'kindness evangelism', where we would buy huge quantities of chocolate bars or cans of coke and just give them out to people in the town centre with little cards to say who we were and that we were doing it as a 'practical demonstration of God's love'. The best ones were on particular holidays, for example we gave out Cadbury's Creme Eggs on Good Friday, and flowers on Mother's Day. People always responded really positively and these small things seemed to really touch them.
Also, my Dad and I used to go round to all our neighbours around Christmas and give out sweets, no particular 'evangelistic' point to that one, it was just fun and nice to do.
8. Rachael said the following at 7:41 PM on May 13:
Jo,
Too bad you don't live nearby! I'd love to do a random adventure with you giving out random stuff...
Thanks for the inspiration...maybe one day...
9. Madison said the following at 8:19 PM on May 13:
This is awesome.
Our campus does something similar, during the second week in Feburary we set up a table and gave away cookies (if people asked, they were to show God's love to our campus, cookies are like God's love, free but you have to take it). It was really incredible how people responded. Sometimes they just assumed that there was a catch, and wouldn't take a free cookie!
Sometimes our smallgroups/biblestudies randomly give cookies to people, like the janitors or the admin. staff, and they are super appreciative!
I am excited for Thursday now, chocolate chip cookies here I come!
10. niki said the following at 6:46 AM on May 14:
Interesting on the timing. I just made a batch of supersoft chocolate chip cookies last night, and it turned out to be much more than I know what to do with.
11. Jo said the following at 9:25 AM on May 14:
Rachael, you should do it! To be honest, we young ladies are in a great position to do it... my brother used to help with our events but found that as a tall teenage guy people weren't quite so receptive to him approaching them...
The guy who masterminded our events now leads a big schools outreach project in our town which is why he doesn't have time to do them any more. I'd love to be involved in it again, maybe I should make some waves...
12. BDB said the following at 6:14 PM on May 14:
Do you think Chocolate Mousse is OK as a frozen dessert? I don't think it's supposed to "pour," is it?
13. niki said the following at 7:30 PM on May 14:
I spoke two soon. I have two brothers, ages 20 and 14. The cookies are almost gone. Almost all credit goes to the 14 year old.
14. Heather Koerner said the following at 8:05 AM on May 15:
Happy Chocolate Chip Day everyone! I am liveblogging my cookie making. :)
Have just set the over to 335 degrees--hmmm...have never baked anything at 335 degrees before.
The butter is softening. One moment of panic when I saw that the baking soda was low, but sigh of relief when I saw it was only one teaspoon in the recipe.
Will let you know later how they taste.
I think I'm going to pass these out to some neighbors too.
It says the recipe makes 25 cookies. How can 5 sticks of butter only make 25 cookies? That's like ... 1/5th of a stick per cookie!
15. Heather Koerner said the following at 8:26 AM on May 15:
It just hit me. I'm a stay-at-home mom and I'm baking cookies. :)
16. JessicaF said the following at 9:06 AM on May 15:
I got up early this morning (funny, I can get up early to cook, but not to do other things....) and made a chocolate chip pie to share with my community group tonight. Hopefully the tip I learned this week worked, and solved the problem I had when I made it last week for the first time. It's sitting in my car and I'm starving. It's so hard not to go dig in!!! :)
17. Marisa said the following at 9:59 AM on May 15:
BDB- Mousse Soup?
For the record, I'd eat it, as long as it tasted good! But then, I've never been one to turn down a dessert.
My friend once made a chocolate pudding pie-dessert-thing for a church potluck, covered it in foil, and left it with the other desserts. A well-meaning helper thought it was to be served heated, and put it in the oven. The consistency was... interesting, but still edible.
How did your Chocolate Mousse turn out?
18. BDB said the following at 3:53 PM on May 15:
Marisa (#17) wrote:
>>How did your Chocolate Mousse turn out?<<
A couple of hours in the freezer solidified it, then overnight in the fridge. It has solidified into something that doesn't "flow" when tipped. I poured it into a Nilla-wafer crust I found. While different than the standard chocolate-crumb crust, I figured it would be something different. Usually we all take turns bringing something prepared by Costco. So, we'll see how this goes over...I also mixed in some mint and instant coffee, so it's a mocha-mint-mousse...
19. Tami said the following at 4:10 PM on May 15:
I really, really wanted to have cookies today, but my home was so hot last night I couldn't bear to crank up the oven and bake. :(
BDB - you're a brave man; most "dessert failures" I've heard of are tied to chocolate mousse... whether served straight, or in pies. Glad yours turned out!
I'm sort of combining blog posts here, but my friend used to make a "grasshopper pie" with a chocolate cookie crust and mint chip ice cream. It was REALLY good...
20. Candice Watters said the following at 4:30 PM on May 15:
A pound plus of butter? Four cups of sugar? Five eggs? Oy vey. These sound like clogged arteries on a cookie sheet. Are they good? Did anyone taste them?
21. Heather Koerner said the following at 5:00 PM on May 15:
Okay, just pulled out the last batch. Yum! Yum!
Notes to those who want to try the recipe:
1) If you do not have a stand mixer, run, run, away. My pitiful little hand mixer was throwing the batter around so I definitely got my bicep workout!
2) Who knew it took so long for ingredients to come to room temp?
3) If you make the cookies as big as the recipe calls for (oh yeah, he recommends using a 1/2 cup measure for 1 cookie), they are honkin' giganormous.
4) They are really good and they made my neighbors smile.
Thanks to everyone for celebrating!
22. BDB said the following at 10:57 PM on May 15:
Tami (#19) wrote:
>>BDB - you're a brave man; most "dessert failures" I've heard of are tied to chocolate mousse...<<
I'm all about the risk and initiative thing...I did notice that the recipe did not say "easy" or "fast" and I understand why now...
I think I would have chilled them more in the freezer before serving. It might have been the host's fridge, but they ended up being kind of gooey. Still tasty, but more for a spoon than a fork. I think that commercial refrigerators are colder, hence they are more solid in a commercial setting.
Or maybe there's some kind of unnatural additive that I didn't use...
Oh, wait...I doubled the recipe, but I forgot to double the sugar added to "stiffen" the mixture when "whipping" it in the mixer. And I used brown sugar for part of it.
Chocolate chip cookies are so much more intuitive...
23. Tami said the following at 11:10 AM on May 16:
BDB, Elisabeth Elliot would be proud of your initiative. You're no "waiting for the dessert to come to you" kinda guy! :)
Yeah, with mousse you have to be pretty exact. It's one of the persnickety-est desserts out there. Cookies are a bit more forgiving, but still with some of the ingredients (especially the leaveners) you've gotta be pretty "right on".
24. BDB said the following at 11:55 AM on May 16:
Tami (#23) once:
>>but still with some of the ingredients (especially the leaveners) you've gotta be pretty "right on".<<
Yeah, discovered once that confectioner's sugar and flour are NOT the same, even though they look pretty much the same. That was an interesting thing to see through the oven door. I could use the term "flowage" to describe the result...
(And now if I put something into a tupperware, I make sure it's labeled.)
25. Heather Koerner said the following at 1:31 PM on May 16:
BDB--April 3rd is National Chocolate Mousse Day. Be sure to celebrate next year. :)
26. BDB said the following at 2:02 PM on May 16:
Heather (#25) wrote:
>>BDB--April 3rd is National Chocolate Mousse Day. Be sure to celebrate next year. :)<<
I'll put that on my calendar!
And I figured out another mistake. Since I ran out of white sugar at the high-speed whipping stage, I put in one TEA spoon of white and one teaspoon of brown sugar.
I was supposed to put in 4 TABLEspoons of white sugar to firm it up. Ah, a sometimes it's the little things that trip us up, eh?
I'm going to get a straw for the leftovers...
27. JessicaF said the following at 2:41 PM on May 16:
BDB, #24: Yeah, discovered once that confectioner's sugar and flour are NOT the same, even though they look pretty much the same. That was an interesting thing to see through the oven door. I could use the term "flowage" to describe the result...
Imagine my mother's fright when she came into the kitchen and found me making a cake with old fish grease. She never told me that she reused vegetable oil and put it back in the old container. Of course, I should have noticed the crisp, fried floaties from our last fish fry...but I was 13. :) Thankfully she caught me before the cake was baked.
BDB =(And now if I put something into a tupperware, I make sure it's labeled.)
You could always taste a pinch. :)
This is the first time i've tried the < i >, etc. so it kinda worked, but...:) sorry!
28. JessicaF said the following at 2:45 PM on May 16:
Oh, btw...the chocolate chip pie was a major hit! :) I just wish the one single guy in my group (who loved it) hadn't just recently been 'set up' with someone else...drat. Oh well.
29. BDB said the following at 3:26 PM on May 16:
End Italics using < / i > without the spaces.