No point in flimsy cookies

I was probably 25 years old or more when I discovered that other people expect chocolate chip cookies to have smooth surfaces with occasional bumps of chocolate, and a golden tone to them. This is not my idea of a chocolate chip cookie, and I claim some expertise.

A quick calculation: over 48 or so years of baking them at least once a month I have probably produced at least 20,736 chocolate chip cookies, and they rarely lasted a day after leaving the hot oven.

My mother was firm about the basic rules of nutrition. One of them, never stated but implied, was that if you were going to eat cookies, you should be sure they had some nutritional value. Our version of chocolate chip cookies was essentially an oatmeal cookie made with dark brown sugar and walnuts.

I have never wavered in the belief that if you bake late at night and can't resist sneaking a cookie for breakfast, it should be a reasonable substitute for cereal. Five years ago I bought a new Joy of Cooking, since my old version was getting ragged around the edges and pages were falling out. I was shocked to discover that more sugar is used in most recipes than 35 years ago, and the sugar is white.

Here is what I think a real cookie should look like. I would have photographed more, but they've disappeared.