I know, I know what you’re thinking. Did she seriously bake cookies again?

There’s a point here. Stick with me. And it has nothing to do with the fact these cookies are soft and chewy, everything that the perfect cookie should be.

When I was in college there was nothing I liked better than getting a care package from home. I went to a school in rural Pennsylvania about three hours from my hometown – an easy enough drive that I could make it back and forth for a quick weekend visit, but far enough away that popping in for a homecooked meal wasn’t an option.

I loved college but was often susceptible to a nagging feeling of longing for my own bed, the feeling of my feet on the carpet in my bedroom, the way the bathroom mirrors steamed after a long shower. The sensation in the pit of my stomach was always fleeting and though it would appear with the ferocity of an August thunderstorm it would only last until one of my girlfriends knocked on my door with details about the next party at the Phi Mu Delta house.

The best remedy for impromptu wistfulness for home was the mail you did not expect to expect. Some of the most treasured pages tucked safely into my top desk drawer were the seemingly banal letters from my mother that arrived with twenty dollars tucked inside. The letters rambled on for a page and a half about her day, her job, what she watched on TV while she walked on the treadmill, but these letters said between the lines, “I miss you, the house is quieter than I thought it would be without you here.”

When I would get care packages in college, the contents of the boxes weren’t as important as was the act of finding the square yellow slips in your campus mailbox that signified a parcel waiting for you at the shipping/receiving center across the train tracks, behind the freshman dorm.

Now that my brother is a senior in college I find it great fun to compile boxes of odds and ends when I know he’ll get a kick out of them. I couldn’t enjoy pulling the random sundries together more than I do if I was being paid: a funny hat for St. Patrick’s Day, pictures from the last family gathering that it took me weeks to develop…and of course, I’ll take any excuse to bake chocolate chip cookies.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sour cream
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk-chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with sour cream, and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Cover, and freeze for 10 minutes.

3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake until centers are set and cookies are pale golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen.