Italian Christmas Cookies

I love cookies. I love everything about cookies. I love the shape and the smell and the taste of cookies. I've eaten all kinds of cookies - store bought cookies, Christmas cookies, really BIG cookies, and cookies I baked myself. None, however, can compare to my Little Gram's Chocolate Chip Cookies - the greatest of all cookies.

These cookies are made with chocolate chips, crushed peanuts, brown sugar, shortening, flour, baking soda, and four eggs. All these ingredients are mixed together, molded into about 60 raw cookies, and baked at 400 degrees for thirteen minutes. Believe it or not, this simple formula makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie. They're practically a food group.

To properly eat this circular blob of perfection, I perform the "Ritual of the Perfect Cookie." First, I get a large glass of milk. Then, I take the red, slightly dented cookie-filled tin and slowly remove the lid. Inside lay the precious delights. I look for the best one to eat first; its about an inch in diameter and speckled with chocolate chips and peanut chunks. Smiling, I baptize it in the milk and swallow it whole. I eventually consume as many as my mortal body can hold. This is my ritual for eating my Little Gram's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

When I am eating her cookies I taste sensations that I never dreamed possible. Waves of deliciousness orally enter me, spreading rapidly through my body, and I experience a burst of energy unknown to most humans. I feel as if I have a perfect body, perfect vision, and even perfect spelling. I am mentally and physically a better person, at one with the world. And that is after only one cookie!

It sounds as if I am exaggerating, and maybe I am...just a little, but my Little Gram's are the best darn cookie I've ever eaten. One ingredient of the cookie I failed to mention is also the most important: love. My great grandma's love gives the cookies shape, taste, character, and that's why Little Gram's Chocolate Chip Cookies - are the greatest of all cookies.

Little Gram's Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 eggs
1 lb of flour
1/2 lb of brown sugar
1 cup of chopped peanuts
6 oz. of chocolate chips
1/2 of shortening
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of baking powder

Beat shortening then add sugar. When light and fluffy, add eggs. When fluffy add flour and beat. When it gets too heavy for beater add flour by hand. Add nuts and chips. Bake at 14 minutes at 375 or 13 minutes at 400 according to which is best for your stove. Makes approx 60 cookies.

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