Chocolate Chip Rickies are named after the baker who inspired them. These chocolate chip cookies are fun to bake with the kids and quick to disappear! The master mind behind the secret formula that inspired my version is a lovely gentleman named Rick. I haven’t known Rick long, but he is a remarkably generous person. He’s famous in these here parts for many things: His smile, happy atittude, beautiful Hawaiian shirts (that he sews with care) and chocolate chip cookies. Rick’s a great storyteller and one of the best stories he tells is how he came up with the recipe for his ever-popular cookies. He’s spent years researching various cookie recipes, including the famous Million-Dollar Nieman Marcus cookies, to develop his own concoction. I’ve named them “Chocolate Chip RICKies,” in his honor. On big occasions, we’ll have potlucks at the office. Baby showers, someone getting married, Christmas, Finally Friday, any excuse will do. Some of us cheat and bring ready-made items. Some of us bring homemade items.

Rick always brings a massive batch of his signature chocolate chip cookies. And when I say massive, I mean like 200 cookies, which he bakes patiently the night before and carries to the office in a big turkey roasting pan. The dough looks like luscious ice cream and, if chilled beforehand, holds its pretty li’l scoopy figure after baking. The girls come out of the oven all sun-tanned and relaxed… One look and you can’t help but smile. One bite and you’ll grab the second before you’ve finished eating the first!

Chocolate Chip Rickies

Makes 3 dozen cookies
Prep: 10 mins
Oven: 375F
Bake: 10-12 mins

Ingredients
1 cup shortening (Butter-flavored Crisco)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup b. sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla (the good stuff)
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp instant coffee or ground espresso
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup shredded coconut

Instructions
Make the Dough

Cream shortening with sugars, then add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and coffee.
Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into the shortening mixture, but
do not overwork the dough.
Gently mix chocolate chips and coconut into the dough.

Store in a recycled yogurt container in the fridge for up to a week
or freeze up to 2 months.

Ready to Bake?

Preheat @ 375*F

Use a small cookie scooper to lift teaspoon-sized balls of the chilled dough
and set onto a cookie sheet lined with foil.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.

Use a spatula to gently lift the cookies off of the baking tray and
set onto a rack to cool, about 10 minutes.

Enjoy with a tall glass of ice-milk!

Truth be told, I’ll make any excuse to go back to grab one for a friend and grab another one for myself. Then I make the argument that another friend is too busy to leave her desk. So, off I go to get a couple more.

Well, Rick has decided to abandon ship and retire to The Good Life. And who can blame him? I’d retire right now if I could. We had a nice party to celebrate his retirement. His cookies would be sorely missed if they weren’t there. But, it wouldn’t be right to expect the Guest of Honor to spend all night in front of a hot oven, baking cookies for us li’l piggies.

So, a few of us at the office volunteered to bake. The weekend before the party, Daisy and I mixed up a couple batches of cookie dough.
It rested in the fridge until the night before. After I got home and kicked my shoes off, we had a nice family dinner and caught up on the day’s happenings. Then, Daisy and I went to work. We scooped beautiful li’l balls of chilled dough onto a baking tray and popped them into the oven. The hardest part was resisting to eat all of them! These cookies are loaded with chocolate chips.

The next morning, I piled them into a disposable aluminum roasting pan, just like Rick had done all these years
and loaded them into the car. The cookies made a surprise appearance at Rick’s party. He was delighted that we’d baked them for him. After all, he’d always baked them for us.

Now that I really think about it, I’ve learned a lot from Rick: Quality Hawaiian shirts don’t exist, unless you make your own. Life is what you make it and sharing stories about your time here
forges strong friendships. It’s important to keep up that smile and find things to appreciate in every day. These Chocolate Chip RICKies are a testament to his generous nature.
We’re so lucky to know him.