Thursday, October 11, 2012

Making Chocolate Chip cookies into a Lesson about God. Who said cookies couldn't be about God?

My cousin and I came up with a genius idea to switch our kids on two days of the week, so each of us gets a   "childless break". Basically it's just a time to catch up on chores, or run errands, or indulge in a moment of remembering what it was like to actually be alone... shudder. In all reality it has been a huge blessing on both ends! Not only do we each get a day of the week for "alone time", but we also get a day of the week to spend with our sweet little second and third cousins (that's a story for another time, and no, our family tree does not go straight up).

So today I had my sweet little "niece and nephew" over. The way it usually works, is we play for a while, have lunch, the two little ones go down for a nap, and the two eldest stay up and watch a movie on the couch. Today, I decided to switch it up and be semi-intentional. So... we made God Cookies. 

All we did was follow a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and for the majority of ingredients, I incorporated a part of God. So in the end, we ended up with a God cookie. It was great fun, and who doesn't like to make chocolate chip cookies anyshways! 

Here's the recipe I used and how I broke it down:

Costco's Kirkland Signature recipe (on the back of their Chocolate Chips)

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 C shortening & butter mixed (1/2 cup butter, fill the balance of the cup with shortening)
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 C all-purpose flour
1 C Kirkland Signature Chocolate Chips

optional:
1/2 C chopped nuts

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Preheat oven to 375*F

Combine shortening, butter, sugars, egg and vanilla in a medium-size bowl. (I did this part wrong because I only had butter. Basically I did just about 1/2 cup of butter and no shortening). Mix thoroughly with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add baking soda and salt. Slowly add flour until thoroughly blended. Turn off mixer and fold in Kirkland Signature Chocolate chips with a spatula. Add nuts if desired. 

Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375* F for 8 to 10 minutes. For a softer, chewier cookie, bake until the edges and peaks are slightly golden brown. 

Now, when we began adding ingredients, I sort of ad-libbed the following:

For the butter and eggs I explained that they hold the God cookie together, just like the holy spirit holds us together with God.

For the sugar, I let them taste a bit of the brown sugar and asked them what it tasted like, and of course they said "GOOD!" so I read Psalm 34:8, "O taste, and see that the Lord is good;".

For the vanilla I used a reference that talks about honey, Ezekiel 3:3, "He said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you. Then I ate it, ant it was sweet as honey in my mouth." I let them smell the vanilla first and asked if it smelled sweet, and they said yes. Then I read the verse and explained that the Bible is God's word, and we should "eat it up" because it is sweet like the vanilla.

For the salt I talked about Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt..." This really didn't relate to the whole God cookie lesson, but it's a good lesson anyways.

For the flour I told them that the flour is what makes the cookies rise. The flour is like Jesus, because He rose from the grave.

Last, after it was all combined, we added the chocolate chips. I told them that we are like the chocolate chips, because even though we aren't the same as the rest of the God cookie, even though we aren't God, he still lets us be a part of him. Then I held up the spatula with some of the dough and showed them how because we believe what Jesus did on the cross for our sins, and because of his blood, and the holy spirit, and because Jesus rose again, we are stuck to God just like the chocolate chips are stuck to the dough. 

Anyways, just a quick little post, because I thought that it turned out pretty cute! They loved it, and it was better than JUST watching a movie. Now they are watching a movie, and eating their God cookies at the same time! 

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