Copycat Entenmann’s Chocolate Chip Cookies — The Ones Brenda Would Have Kept in the Cookie Jar

January in Cascade Heights. The Christmas lights still up on the next block. Three days of counseling at the middle school in East Point. The work was the work.

Daddy in his apartment in the back. I brought him his coffee and his medication this morning. He grumbled. The grumble was the love. Marcus, 20, studying for finals at Alabama.

Meatloaf Tuesday. The Brenda recipe. Glazed top. Mashed potatoes underneath.

Jasmine, 18, home from Howard for the weekend. Isaiah, 17, shot baskets in the driveway after school.

Derek brought me coffee Sunday morning before service. That man.

Tuesday evening I sat at the kitchen table with my composition notebook and worked on the cookbook. From Brenda's Kitchen — that's the working title. I cannot write the introduction without crying yet.

I read for an hour Sunday night before bed. Some novel about a Black woman in 1960s Alabama. Mama would have liked it.

Daddy sat in his chair after dinner watching the news. He fell asleep before the third quarter. Standard.

Pastor preached about the prodigal son again. He preaches about that boy at least three times a year. The text is the text but every preaching is different. I cried in the second service this time. Don't ask me why.

The blood pressure check was Wednesday. The numbers were borderline. The doctor wants me to walk more. I am walking more.

I drove to the Walmart on Camp Creek Saturday morning. The kind of grocery run that takes two hours because you run into three people you know. Sister Patrice caught me in the produce. We talked about her grandbaby for fifteen minutes.

Miss Ernestine called Tuesday. She's ninety-something and sharp as ever. She told me my potato salad still needs more mustard.

I had a hard counseling case at school this week. A seventh-grade girl whose mama lost her job. We talked. I gave her my number. I told her she could call.

I went to the cemetery Saturday morning. Brenda's grave is on the hill at South-View. Curtis still goes most Sundays. I left a small bouquet of magnolias.

The neighbors had a Friday cookout this week. I brought my mac and cheese. They have come to expect this. I have come to expect this. The block is the block.

Darnell sent a photo from Clarksville. The garden is producing. He grew tomatoes the size of softballs. I sent him back a photo of my sweet potato casserole. We are competitive about food now in our middle age.

Derek and I had date night Friday. Same restaurant, same booth, same enchiladas for me and carne asada for him.

Wednesday Bible study at the church. We read through Proverbs. The women in my row argued about whether wisdom is built or born. I said both. They agreed, sort of.

Thursday I made cornbread for a sister at church whose husband had surgery. I dropped it off at the hospital. She cried at the door. I told her, eat the cornbread, baby. The food is the saying.

I made a casserole for the church potluck. The pan came back empty. That is the only review I trust.

The kids were home for the weekend. The house was loud the way it should be.

Andre called from LA. He told the Kevin Hart story again. Twenty-some years and that boy is still telling that story. Everyone in this family is going to hear about Kevin Hart at our funerals.

Saturday morning I had Set the Table at the Cascade Heights center. Twelve young women. We did baked chicken. One of them — Imani, sixteen — was so afraid of seasoning that she barely shook the salt. I stood next to her and put my hand over hers and said, baby, you cannot be afraid of food. We seasoned the chicken. The chicken came out right. She glowed.

I sat at that kitchen table on Tuesday with my composition notebook, working on the introduction I still cannot get through without crying, and I thought about what Brenda put in the cookie jar. Not the meatloaf — as righteous as that meatloaf is — but the after-dinner sweet, the thing she kept on the counter just because she liked the house to smell that way. These cookies are that thing. Soft and bakery-familiar, the kind that do not ask anything of you except that you eat one while they’re still warm. I baked a batch after I got home from South-View, and I did not cry — not that time — because the food is the saying, and I already knew what it said.

Copycat Entenmann’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes | Servings: 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Do not rush this step — the air you build here is what gives these cookies their soft, bakery lift.
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix in the vanilla extract.
5. Incorporate flour. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
6. Fold in chocolate chips. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
7. Portion and space. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing each about 2 inches apart. The dough should be slightly mounded — do not flatten.
8. Bake. Bake one sheet at a time on the center rack for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the tops look barely done. They will look underbaked in the center — that is correct. They finish as they cool.
9. Cool on pan. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. This rest is what sets the soft, cakey interior. Eat one warm. You deserve it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 148 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 19g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 82mg