According to famous pastry chef Jacques Torres, the secret to excellent chocolate chip cookies is the chocolate. He sells his own but any 60% cocoa butter will do it. Substitute half bread flour for chewiness and half cake flour for softness, and you have the perfect cookie. Dr. Shintani, health guru, says to stick to organic flour to avoid the pesticides sprayed on wheat.

Actually, I have never met a chocolate cookie I did not like – or eat. Baking seems like too much to handle lately, but I have been watching others on zoom classes. It’s very rewarding to follow them as they, like Julia Child, make mistakes along the way yet still finish with a lovely product – good enough to eat. If only I had a computer that could produce the aroma and miraculously hand me the cookies through my screen.

Until then, I will have to be satisfied with watching and buying Maxine’s Heavenly Double Chocolate Christmas cookies from Whole Foods.

Happy Holidays!🎄🍪