Valentine Basket Idea – Add Chocolates

Chocolates Bring Back Childhood Memories

For a great majority of people, they have stored somewhere in their memory remembrances of their favorite foods, tastes, aromas and flavors from their childhood meal times, childhood treats and gourmet gift baskets .

Something as simple as smelling a batch of fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies can be enough to bring any number of happy memories of treasured times with family and friends flooding back and momentarily conveying them back to their younger days.

Indeed, it is no mistake that one would associate wonderful memories of youth and carefree times with the warm, inviting aromas that are part of the experience of enjoying cookies made with chocolate chips that are fresh out of the oven. This is an experience common to so many children, of so many generations, and is an experience that seems to embody many aspects of childhood for so many people.

The amazing fragrance of chocolate chip cookies, as the dough warms up and slowly turns a golden brown making the dark chocolate chip cookies lose their unique shape and meld into pools of chocolate, can serve to spark memories and bring them back to life.

Who doesn’t remember the incredible feeling of excitement while watching mom finish mixing the cookie dough batter, hoping that she’ll add some extra dark or even white chocolate chips, more than the recipe calls for, and add some of those wonderful, chopped nuts as well? Maybe the memory that rushes back is that of the anticipation that strikes once the pan of cookies has been carefully placed in the oven.

As a child, how many times did you push the little white button on the oven that triggered the light, allowing you to see the progression of those cookies as they swelled and spread across the pan, inching toward each other? No doubt you could already feel that cookie in your hand, still so warm that it wasn’t firm enough to hold its shape and just the perfect temperature to simply dissolve the moment you took your first bite.

Often, people have wonderful memories of working alongside mom in the kitchen to whip up a batch of special Christmas cookies to be left as a treat for Santa, to say thank you and to give him a boost of energy. Others have memories of coming home after school and knowing the instant they opened the door and were greeted by a promising perfume of warm cookies that a special treat would be their reward for finishing their homework quickly.

Even though the world is filled with an almost countless array of incredible chocolate treats, from boxed chocolates to truffles to gourmet chocolate treasures, for a great many people who love boxed chocolates, there is just nothing else that compares to a warm and soft chocolate chip cookie that has just come out of the oven.

These delightful cookie treats are not only chock full of the requisite chips, but often also contain nuts and other additional ingredients, which makes them even more special, plus a heaping portion of cherished times and special occasions remembered.

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