Choco cookies: That's what I wrote on the recipe card 30 years ago, when I was into shortening any word that could be shortened: lobs, spags and balls and choco were just a few.

These particular choco cookies are the best cookies ever. They are so chocolate it's like eating a brownie in a cookie shape. No needless extra added paraphernalia like nuts, choco chips or peanut butter. Why anyone thinks mixing peanut butter and chocolate is a good idea is beyond me. And I know this will make some enemies, because I'm the only person I know who doesn't like that combination.

Put a piece of chocolate cake in front of me and I'll eat it, even if I'm not hungry. As long as it doesn't have peanut butter frosting. Gross. Sorry, but they just don't complement each other. Except in a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup.

My mother used to have a bridge club. She would usually make some yummy choco dessert, and often would get a big box of mini Reece's. She had four kids, so she had to hide them before the bridge night. I was pretty good at scouting them out though.

Anyway. Cookies.

I am not a cookie monster by any stretch of the imagination. I don't really dislike cookies, but I don't crave them either, unless of course they're my homemade choco cookies. Or my homemade ginger cookies. And I wouldn't turn down a warm chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven. Or Girl Scout Thin Mints, or Oreos.

But don't bother offering me any other pre-packaged cookies. I'd sooner go hungry. They just don't cut it.

Girl Scout Thin Mints, which I still call cookie mints – what they were called when I was a kid – are irresistible to me. I'm not one of those people who opens a bag of chips or a package of cookies and sits there and eats the whole thing. But give me one of those foil wrapped columns of cookie mints and if I didn't have the willpower, that fortunately I do have, I could easily eat the whole thing. With a cold glass of milk of course. I need a glass of milk with even one cookie.

All that said I made these choco cookies last night. I think the recipe came from my mother's friend, Nancy Hanscom, in Sanford many years ago.

I babysat for Nancy's daughter, Beth, once. I was told she had to be in bed by 8:30. As soon as her parents left Beth started in on me: “Please, please, please let me stay up till 9:30. Please!” I finally relented just to shut her up. When her parents got home she immediately appeared at the top of the stairs and told on me. That was the last time I babysat for her.

Beth was kind of spoiled but her mother made great cookies. Like most of the recipes I've shared in this column they're simple to make. And seriously – irresistible to eat.

Choco cookies: 2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, 1 stick butter or margarine, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs (well beaten), 2/3 cup flour, ¼ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. vanilla. Melt choco with butter or marg (short for margarine :-), beat in eggs, then flour, salt and vanilla. Chill for 20 minutes or more. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 375.

Depending on how you cook them they can be a little crispy on the edges, or chewy like a brownie. (If the cookie sheet and dough are warm they'll be crispy on the edges.) They're really good either way, and if you take two of them and put some vanilla ice cream between them you'll have the best ice cream sandwich ever. I love ice cream sandwiches but when I break down and buy a package of them every now and then the chocolate wafers don't taste like chocolate. These cookies? They taste like chocolate.

You can whip them up in no time flat. You could eat the whole batch in no time flat, too, but I don't recommend it. Unless of course you need to gain weight, say for a movie role or something. That's a lot of choco and butter.

My other fave cookie recipe is for ginger cookies. That was my mother's recipe too. I shared that one with co-workers at the Coastal Journal when I worked there and they were so good one of them made a bunch of copies for friends. She named them 'Suzi's Gingersnaps.' My mother saw that and was like, “SUZI's gingersnaps?”

And just for the record my mother usually puts walnuts in these choco cookies. She’s not a purist. But she is kind of a health nut. And walnuts are wicked good for you.

Oh! And did I mention I had a manhattan while making these? It was a blast. But limit it to one. See bottom photo.

See ya next week.

Disclaimer: I’m not a chef. I lay no claim to being an authority on food or cooking. I’m a good cook, and a lover of good food. And I know how to spell and put a sentence together. This column is simply meant to be fun, and hopefully inspiring. So to anyone reading this whose hackles are raised because you know more about the subject of food than I, relax. I believe you. And please feel free to email me at: suzithayer@boothbayregister.com.