Wars, the economy, minimum wage, healthcare policy. These issues require substantial debate to determine which ideas are best. But the most fundamental universal truth is that chocolate chip cookies are undeniably the most scrumptious, ambrosial delights amongst all desserts.
Invariably, brownie lovers, cake enthusiasts and ice cream aficionados are bound to resist this opinion. Their claims, however, unlike a perfectly set cookie, are thoroughly baseless.
The topic of best dessert is somehow highly contested in the dessert community. Opponents of sound logic in general may argue that chocolate chip cookies do not capture the essence of desserts due to their simplicity. They might state that there is no accepted standard for a cookie’s taste.
Some prefer a salt garnish on their cookies and some prefer a slightly underbaked core. Some prefer an abundance of little chocolate chips while some prefer a few chunks of chocolate in their cookie. They claim that this lack of standardization of recipes leads to the cookies’ quality diminishing.
But it is this universality that makes chocolate chip cookies so widely adored. These cookies are fully customizable based on the particular person's preference.
What can ice cream do? Use other toppings to cover up its sheer lack of enjoyability? What can brownies do? Somehow alter the one silly flavor it's made up of? Wrong. Cookies, however, are perfectly balanced as all things should be.
Yet, the perfect blend of dough, sugar and chocolate does not exist.
You’re able to tailor the cookies’ flavor to your own taste buds. It is this very quality that brings out complexity in simplicity. This ability to change the nature of a dessert and for it to still be cherished around the world presents, not the lack of intricacy, but complexity due to the malleable nature.
Nevertheless, it is true that cookies don’t require the same technique as a creme brulee or a soufflé. But what this dessert lacks in flair, it makes up for in ruggedness. Even if a component of the simple recipe is muddled up, the overall quality that makes every chocolate chip cookie special cannot be removed.
But what is this indefinable quality? I believe that it stems from these cookies’ rich history. During the Great Depression — when the popularity of cookies was boosted immensely. In these difficult times, people looked to this simple item that acted as a portal to a life of richness and grandeur that many were forced to live without.
Even though the chocolate supply was reduced for the war effort, Americans salvaged what they had and baked beautiful memories of home into sweet cookies for the soldiers. It is this deep connection to the past that allows chocolate chip cookies to be so widely loved in our nation.
I feel cookies are often associated with love passed down by generations. Cherished memories of a grandmother baking steamy delicious cookies on a Sunday visit is in all our hearts.
Even if chocolate chip cookies only use a small set of ingredients, they are ready in 20 minutes. Even if they do not paint the most grandiose picture on one’s palate, they ultimately symbolize the love of a nation, of ancestors and the advent of the American dream.
So the next time someone even thinks that chocolate chips do not take the mantle for the best dessert, tell them that chocolate chip cookies have a powerful connection to the past along with the continued support of generations, making them timeless. Its flexibility as a dessert makes it available to every set of taste buds in the world.
With these qualities considered, it is obvious to see that this dessert surpasses all of its competition.
Shruthi Vijukumar is a photographer for The Beacon. She can be reached at vijukuma24@up.edu.
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