We don’t do recipes. This may be the first and only time we do one.

However, a chocolate chip cookie crisis calls for action in the summer of 2009.

As the food safety scientists are investigating the cause of an E.coli outbreak in Nestle refrigerated cookie dough produced in Virginia, emergency measures are called for. Kids already have been through the peanut butter crisis. Honestly. Enough is enough.

One reason people buy prepared cookie dough is that they are time pressed.

Making dough is easy but then there is all that dropping the dough on the pan or rolling it out to put on the baking sheet. Some people truly don’t have the time. Others do not have the patience. Many have neither.

One version of this Toll House chocolate chip cookie brittle recipe is at cooks.com. It is a correct recipe, written as proper cooks wish one to be.

Mine is much more relaxed.

The basic recipe  came from one of my mother’s Junior League cookbooks, most of which have fallen apart from use.  One of these cookbooks deserves credit, but it is not possible to figure out which one. (Let me know if you do.)

You can get a lot of cookie power in about five minutes plus baking time.

This is one of the world’s most forgiving cookie recipes.It is fast and the cookie tastes great. Once baked, it is broken apart in pieces. This cookie tastes much richer than the familiar recipe. Smaller pieces are better.

The people who have eaten this version seem to like it as well as, if not better than, the original. This cookie, mysteriously to me (but probably not to food scientists), keeps much longer, too.

Equipment: One bowl, one pair of hands (or a mixer), two ungreased cake pans (either 8″ or 9″ is fine) and an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 C. softened butter or margarine (If you use unsalted, you will need to add 1t. salt).

1 C. sugar, white or brown. You pick. Both work and both are good. Whatever you have on hand.

2 C. flour. No sifting.

1 and 1/2 t. vanilla.

I large package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Ice water, if needed, to loosen dough.

Nuts.

If you like nuts and no one is allergic to them, use chopped or whole pecans or walnuts—enough to press on the top of the cookie dough in the pan before it bakes.  You know how you like your cookies. Put enough nuts on top to make you happy. Nuts can be pricey so if you don’t want them, no one will miss them—-even people who love nuts.

Five-Minute Mixing Technique:

Put softened butter and sugar in bowl. Mix the two together until the ingredients are like peas or a little bigger. Kids like doing this. To get it right, imagine you are sifting sand through your fingers at the beach. Repeat. Soon it will be right.

Slowly, add flour, a few tablespoons at a time. Be sure to mix the flour into the sugar-butter combination well before you add more.

If the mixture is a little dry, add a little ice water to give the dough some moisture but do this 1 T. at a time so you don’t over-do it.

You should have a nice ball of dough, more or less. If it is crumbly, add a little more ice water until it holds together. This is the only step that takes a little time or care. You don’t want it too dry or too wet.

Toss in the chips. Mix them into the dough evenly.

Put in your un-greased cake pans. The cookie pieces will be thicker with an 8″ pan and thinner with a larger one. You also can use a square pan if you like.

Pat in nuts, if you are using them.

Put into your pre-heated oven and bake until light golden brown. This will take 25 minutes or more, depending on your oven, size of your pans, etc.

It will be lighter than a standard chocolate chip in appearance but don’t worry. If it is golden around the edges and it has been baking for 25 or more minutes, it should be done. If you have doubts, remember, you are breaking this into pieces. Cut out a test piece to be sure—-let it cool first!

When done, let cool and then break apart, just as if it were candy brittle. Store in tightly sealed container.

Crisis over.

You may not go back to the refrigerated case again for cookie dough, either.

Any child old enough to be trusted with a heated oven can learn to make these. Most kids love to make these so you may have happy child labor, too.