The fresh strawberries looked picturesque, in a bowl on the kitchen counter, on a sunny summer Sunday morning. Breakfast-time with fresh strawberries on-hand is just about as good as life gets. Strawberries go with EVERYTHING breakfast-related. Dice up some strawberries for the oatmeal, buttered bagel or toast, or see them sidled up next to the banana on the plate. It goes without saying the contribution of strawberries in smoothies. Add strawberries as topping to your pancakes or French toast, or crepes. They are beautiful as a garnish next to scrambled eggs … Part of a fruit medley next to the hash brown potatoes, bacon and a hard boiled egg. Strawberries on cereal are like peanut butter and jelly … But I digress. I had a big beautiful bowl of fresh strawberries on the kitchen counter. That is where everything started.

Actually, that is not true. The chocolate chip cookies idea came first and were the only original plan. I usually make the husband a baked item for the week. It softens the “honey-do” demands, oops, I meant requests! Homemade baked items are worth their weight in gold. The time and effort spent deciding upon what to make, sourcing ingredients, keeping new ideas coming, and making them a reality and not just a “that sounds good” are much appreciated. So many recipes and ideas. I think it must be like having a chauffeur or a maid, glorious to just have these items presented to you with no effort required. Other than love. Love from a husband. Actually, love takes the most effort of anything in this world, and also the least …. Once again, I digress.

Chocolate chip cookies were on the agenda today. For the week ahead. It was breakfast-time. What better time to get started especially since the oven would warm up the kitchen, and it is warm enough already in Baltimore in August without more heat coming from inside the house. Breakfast-time a/k/a fresh strawberries in a bowl time. You probably see where this is going, the fresh strawberries ended up in the chocolate chip cookie batter! I could not resist.

I am not one to add fruit to chocolate chip cookies. No cookies on my watch will ever see a piece of a raisin, orange peel or fig. In my soul, it would be a sacrilege to combine fruit and chocolate chips in a cookie. Ain’t never gonna happen, I said before today. But, isn’t life always about that one darn exception? Life is never always never, and it is never never forever. It is chocolate chips and strawberry cookies.

Oh man, are these cookies good! Now I am thinking of ways to improve them. Maybe roast the strawberries first or sauté the strawberries. Baking and sautéing deepen the strawberry flavor and intensify the flavor and color of the strawberry juices – flavors not achievable by even the ripest fresh strawberry. Oh, what about adding dehydrated strawberries? Although their texture can take getting used to, these morsels are like flavor bombs.

The strawberries were meant for breakfast and the cookies were not meant for the strawberries. Once again I went rogue. Lately my rogue tendencies have led me astray. Like the time, I made homemade cream cheese for my creme brûlée cheesecake (note to my future self, stick with Philadelphia brand cream cheese). Or when I added fresh ginger to my maple syrup ice cream which caused me to lose an ice cream contest (the ice cream was judged “too bougie”, “too elevated’, and “why do you always have to add something different?’). But I cannot help my rogue tendencies and when they are aligned with the universe, I am in perfect flow and harmony. These are now my new favorite cookies and this might be one of those life one exception things – an always forever thing.

Pixie Millet – August 2025