Cookies! Cookies create a warm feeling in our minds, take us to a memory and appease us with their buttery, sugary blend. Our oldest son has been making cookies for years. He makes an incredible cookie too. In honor of him we are going remind you when mixing your cookie dough "don't forget the salt!" In those beginning years when he first started making cookies, he was so focused on the sweet and chocolate that he would sometimes forget the salt. What a powerful lesson though because It helped him in developing his palate and identifying just how important salt can be in cooking and baking. We use salt as balance. A balanced flavor profile isn't just delicious but it is good for the body.
There are so many who avoid salt, but perhaps it should be more about the type of salt, the overuse of salt and the unbalanced flavors using mostly salt. There are five universally accepted basic tastes that stimulate and are perceived by our taste buds: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. A balanced dish is generally one that plays these flavors in harmony, without one flavor overpowering the others. The taste buds activate functions in the body based on the these flavor profiles. As omnivores, we require balanced flavors to maintain our healthy bodies.
Taste balancing is an art. One that many do not consider. It is why it took Jeddy so long to perfect his original seasoning. That balance, that harmony is one that many in the food industry do not focus on. They add a chemical or component that assaults' the taste sense and artificially creates a need for more but then the body has to react, process and recover. I think we will delve into this in another blog post.
Back to our cookies.....What is your favorite cookie recipe? What is your favorite store brand cookie? What is it that makes it taste so good to you? There are so many ways a cookie can go wrong. I won't be sharing a cookie recipe today with you. I don't bake what I would consider a great cookie and really haven't perfected the art of cookie making like our oldest has. Perhaps one day I can get him to share his secrets. But for today, let's savor a good cookie, whether you like them chunky, soft and chewy, warm, hard, filled, chocolatey or fruity, good cookies deserve a National Day. Those who have spent the time to make a good one deserve our support, so today support the good cookie makers you know and love.
#nationalcookieday #favoritecookie #chocolate #december4th