Hook: Forget Football. Let’s Talk Cookies

How is it that a simple game has such an outsized effect on many of our lives? Football, a game that was created right here in the United States of America back in the late 1800s by transforming two sports – soccer and rugby – into a new contest. First played by college students for their schools, and then later by professional athletes who were paid to play the game for our entertainment. 

A game that eventually transformed to a point where George Will, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American newspaper columnist described it as follows, “Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings.”

Yet this game is wildly popular. So popular that how the teams perform also causes a lot of happy and sad feelings in people who follow the game – and that is a lot of people. 

Unfortunately, right now the Penn State football team is on a four-game losing streak and has a losing record overall: three wins and four losses. Which is causing angst among some of the fanbase. And we certainly feel that angst here in State College where the football stadium is a constant reminder as it looms ever-larger over Happy Valley. 

Which is why I decided I want to write about something happy today. Something that tastes great and is arguably the most popular variety of a happy food group. 

And that happy thing is cookies. Specifically chocolate chip cookies.

I really, really like chocolate chip cookies. Especially well-made chocolate chip cookies where the ratio of chips-to-dough is at least one-to-one. Or better if that’s possible. In other words, when I take a bite of a chocolate chip cookie, I want at least three chips with every bite.

And over the years my favorite chocolate chip cookie has changed as I’ve grown and had the opportunity to experience varieties from around the country.

As a kid, mom’s chocolate chip cookies were obviously the best, and also a great introduction to the genre. The primary, unquestioned, must-have ingredient in those cookies were the Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. According to the company, their origin came in the 1930s at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts when Ruth Wakefield cut up pieces of a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar and added them to her cookie recipe. A culinary masterpiece was born.

And so, my young life was fulfilled and complete because, what else did a kid need except his mom’s chocolate chip cookies?

Then, I continued to get older and made my way to Penn State for college, where I lost the benefit of home cooking and was forced to succumb, first, to dining hall cookies, and then, to Nabisco. You guessed it, Chips Ahoy. 

Initially I was only eating regular Chips Ahoy cookies, but like all good mass-marketing organizations selling to consumers – especially consumers who like their chocolate – I started eating the Chips Ahoy Chunky Fudge chocolate chip cookies. And then tried every other variety they offered.

My next big move after college was to Orlando, Florida, where I continued buying grocery store cookies. Then one day as I was walking through the local mall, I saw a new store under construction outside the food court. And lo-and-behold, it turned out to be a new cookie store: Selma’s Cookies. To which I thought, “Well that’s just what we need, another cookie shop.” There were already two cookie stores in the mall – both had OK chocolate chip options – so, why not add one more, right?

A few weeks after they opened, I stopped by and was a little surprised, somewhat shocked, and then captivated. Surprised, because the cookies were huge. Much larger than the normal mall store cookies I was used to buying. Shocked, in that they were also much more expensive than the normal mall cookies. And captivated, since after I tried their chocolate chunk cookie, I realized it was worth every penny.

When we moved away from Orlando a few years later, I often missed my Selma’s cookies, but eventually discovered them online and would order them in bulk. Unfortunately, they went out of business during COVID, and I’ve been looking for a replacement ever since.

When we left Orlando, I went to work in New York City, and luckily, a few years before I got there ,a little bakery called Levain Bakery had opened and was the talk of the town. Sadly, my office was on 34th Street and the bakery was on 74th Street, and the lines were impossible. 

But when a rare Levain chocolate chip cookie showed up on my desk, they were the closest cookies I’d had to Selma’s. In the years since, and through the wonders of expansion and the internet, I can now get boxes of Levain cookies shipped directly to my house.

Then my family and I made our way back to Happy Valley. Since we returned to State College, we’ve added to my chocolate chip possibilities.

Trader Joe’s opened their store on North Atherton Street over a decade ago, and like most food they sell, their cookies are several steps above the usual grocery store fare. Their Sea Salt Chocolate Chunk Cookies have become a favorite of mine, and I usually end up with the leftovers from some of my wife’s group meetings!

Then a few years ago out in Spring Mills, a bakery opened up in the old schoolhouse. Inside Out Cookie started showing up at local farmer’s markets with these large round decadent cookies that looked more like mini-pies. And they seemed to appreciate chocolate and incorporated it into several cookies including their own version of the chocolate chip cookie. (Author’s note: I’m noshing on an Inside Out Big Beautiful Chocolate cookie as I write this.) 

As a normal part of my cookie-eating protocol, I put my chocolate chip cookies in the refrigerator. I don’t know why, but for me it makes them tastier, as well as obviously crunchier. But the instructions on Inside Out cookies suggest heating them – or eating them directly from their individual bag. I initially hesitated to heat them, but after trying it once, I’m a convert. If you get some, I recommend heating them! 

But, as noted at the beginning, we are in football season. And that is the one time of year I get to relive some of my youth. Sue Greenfield is one of our tailgating companions of many years. She dutifully drives from Wilkes Barre for every Penn State home game, and brings along her homemade chocolate chip cookies. And in addition to being unbelievably tasty, they go way beyond my chip-to-dough ratio criteria. Lots and lots of chocolate chips.

So, if the current Penn State football situation has you suffering from angst, take a few minutes and get yourself a chocolate chip cookie. It might put the happy back in Happy Valley for you!