When faced with a platter, a bag, a bowl, or a big honkin’ pile of cookies and assuming no witnesses or social pressure, how many will you take? What constitutes a serving and where’s the line that designates cookie gluttony?
When we were kids, my mom decided we could have 2. Period. Two cookies. I’m 60 years old. I make or buy my own cookies. I haven’t lived with my mom for over 40 years. And I feel guilty if I take more than 3 cookies. Obviously I need some serious counseling.
What’s your cookie demarcation? Are the rules different for kids and adults? Does it depend upon the particular type of cookie? Did you have to brush cookie crumbs from your hands before you could answer?
No more than 3 at a time. When those are gone, you get off your ass and get 3 more. And refill the milk glass. And so it goes for up to7 courses. Sky’s the limit for dessert.
It just hit me - this past summer, I was on a 4 week cruise with my mom. There were always cookies on the buffet. Never did I take more than 3, even when I was bringing some to share with her with our after-dinner coffee or tea. Curious.
**Jester **- so multiple return trips to the cookie tray isn’t as tacky (for want of a better word) as loading up for a single trip? (She says as she heads to the kitchen for a just-baked-yesterday chocolate chip cookie…)
Well, the USDA certainly wouldn’t lie to us. But aren’t they the ones that claim a can of soup has 2 1/2 servings? For toddlers maybe…
And a carton of Ben & Jerry’s - how is that not a single serving???
But regarding home baked cookies - according to the recipe, one batch of Tollhouse Cookies should be about 100 cookies. The batch I baked yesterday yielded 70 cookies. That means a serving contains partial cookies. Which means you have to leave pieces of cookies on the plate. That’s as bad as leaving half a donut in the box. Sorry, USDA, you’re not going to make me commit such a faux pas!!!
I’d say four is the serving size of a ginger snap. Ginger snaps are a low-quality cookie. For Tollhouse cookies, two sounds about right. Especially with some milk.
But for a gourmet cookie, one is probably sufficient. I love the fancy cookies they sell at Whole Foods because I can get five of them and eat one every day of the week. My sweet teeth gets taken care of, but I don’t end up busting out of my pants.
Spread your thumb and middle finder apart as far as they can go, creating a [ shape. However many cookies you can stuff inside that bracket you’re legally allowed to guiltily stow away. Basically I’m saying I’m a glutton. For best results, take said pile of cookies to a secluded place and nibble them, one by one, with a good book.
Of course, if civilized society is present, two is the perfect number, three if they’re small. If they’re generous portions with high quality chocolate chips, one works as well.
Depends on the cookie. If it’s one of those big ones they sell at the mall, probably only one. Usually two or three otherwise, unless they are unusually small or thin.
The USDA does not define serving size. All it requires is for the Nutrition Facts box to indicate the serving size relevant to the accompanying table of information.
Here an example of the info box for Oreos that indicates the serving size as three cookies. But that doesn’t mean that three is always the serving size. All it means is that for the cookies in the particular package on which that label appears.
In public, 2 cookies the size of an Oreo is a serving. One big cookie is a serving. And you only get one serving. Do not be a glutton in public. At home, a serving is as much as you want. We must keep up appearances in public.
