Paula’s Theatre Kid Chocolate Chip Cookies
(story—for those who like a recipe story—is below the recipe)
One batch makes enough cookies for the cast of a mid-sized play, like, say, Radium Girls or A Midsummer Night’s Dream. You’ll need to double the batch for a large musical, like Tuck Everlasting, Seussical, or Les Mis.
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 c. decaf coffee grounds
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) butter, softened on countertop for about 20 minutes
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white granulated sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 c. Half and Half (you can use milk too, but it’s better with the Half and Half)
2 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1 3/4 c. (that’s a minimum—always add more to your liking) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 3/4 c. (that’s a minimum—always add more to your liking) milk chocolate chips
PROCESS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put parchment paper or a liner on your cookie sheets.
Combine the following dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside:
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 c. decaf coffee grounds
In a mixer (or by hand if you have very strong forearms), beat the following ingredients together on medium speed until creamy:
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) butter, softened on countertop for about 20 minutes
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white granulated sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
Scrape the sides of your bowl and beat in the following ingredients on medium speed:
2 large eggs
Scrape the sides of your bowl and slowly beat in (on low) the following ingredients (put in a large spoon of the flour mixture, beat a bit, pour in a bit of the Half and Half, beat a bit, repeat):
Dry flour mixture
1/4 c. Half and Half
Scrape down the sides of your bowl and slowly beat in the following ingredient:
2 c. old fashioned rolled oats
Scrape down the bowl and slowly beat in the following ingredients:
1 3/4 c. (minimum) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 3/4 c. (minimum) milk chocolate chips
Drop by spoonfuls or small cookie scoops onto cookie sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes. Cookies will be browner than typical chocolate chip cookies and slightly shiny when done). Let cool before removing from cookie sheets.
NOTE: Both the cookies and the raw batter freeze really well. I usually have a batch of raw batter in the freezer, ready to go. Just drop onto lined cookie sheets, freeze, and then store in a container in the freezer; bake at 350 for 14-16 minutes.
STORY:
I’ve been making some version of these cookies since I was a theatre kid in high school (you can tell I was a real theatre kid because of how I spell “theatre”). I started by making them for people to enjoy during rehearsals. Let’s be real—I was a theatre kid in a school that valued sports-ball so I needed all the help I could get making friends. Like Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters—theatre icons of my young adulthood—these cookies have stood the test of time and are universally beloved.
In the beginning, I used the basic Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the bag, except I used margarine because it was the 1980s and we all erroneously learned in school that butter was killing us. Question everything, kids—the butter debacle was a LIE, one that forced my entire generation—Generation X—to consume foods that lacked both flavor and mouth feel. I contend there is a direct link between the absence of butter and the goth movement. A life without butter made us angsty.
I also only used semi-sweet chocolate chips because there were no milk chocolate chips in regular supermarkets back then. We suffered unspeakable things like this in the 1980s.
When in college, I saw a friend throw coffee into his cookie batter so I threw coffee into mine. I added cinnamon for extra flavor and then oats and Half and Half because the cookies, lacking in butter, needed something extra. I made these whenever I got the chance to hang out at the homes of students who lived near the college. We couldn’t bake cookies in a dorm in the 1980s. We couldn’t even use a hotplate (though I did have a contraband microwave; but, alas, we didn’t know about the possibilities of microwave cookies yet).
When I came to my senses about the beauty of fat in food—alongside the rest of my generation—I used a combination of half-butter and half-margarine. Then we learned that margarine is actually killing us (hydrogenated fats) so I eliminated the margarine altogether and have never been happier.
Over the years, I’ve made these cookies for my kids, their friends, and eventually, an entire new crop of theatre kids (except my youngest theatre kid, who has the audacity to not be able to consume gluten—but I make this gluten-free, allergy-free version for her)—because theatre kids really are the best kids (but sports-ball kids like them too I think).
As my youngest child goes off to college to pursue a BFA in Theatre, completing a circle begun by her great-grandmother over a hundred years ago, I leave the recipe here for all the kids, crews, directors, and production assistants I’ve been lucky enough to bake for through the years. If you’re local, though, just know I usually have a batch in the freezer ready to go. Stop by or invite me to your latest play and I’ll make sure you get some Theatre Kid Cookies—made with lots of love, butter, and a hearty pinch of drama.
