When school shut down in March, every Marist student’s diet was missing something essential: the famous Marist chocolate chip cookie. The cookies are a popular choice at lunch and the perfect treat after a busy school day. Packed with chocolate and baked fresh by Sage, the cookies have the ideal ratio of crunchy edges and doughy centers. Fortunately, while we were craving them during quarantine, the Marist School Instagram page (@maristschool) posted a recipe for homemade Marist chocolate chip cookies. I set out to see how the homemade recipe compares to the famous Sage cafeteria cookies, now that we can finally purchase them again!

The recipe posted online is easy to follow, although it does require vegetable shortening, an ingredient that you may not already have at home. Nonetheless, the rest of the ingredients are pantry staples, and you do not need any special equipment—I used two mixing bowls, two cookie sheets, and an oven. Also, the recipe does not require the cookie dough to be chilled, which makes the prep-time quick. The hardest part of the process is the final step before baking, mixing the dry and wet ingredients, as it takes some time, strength, and hard work to incorporate everything. However, once the dough comes together, it looks (and tastes) amazing, which makes it difficult to resist eating before it is baked! 

Once the dough makes its way onto the cookie sheets, they only take ten minutes to bake and smell, just like the Sage cookies when they come out of the oven. The homemade cookies taste incredible when warm and gooey, just like when we warm a Marist cookie in the microwave. Compared to the Marist cookies we love, the homemade cookies are smaller, but the recipe makes about four dozen. After cooling off, they harden significantly and are not as soft and gentle as the traditional Marist cookie. However, when I crumbled one over vanilla ice cream, its texture was perfect!

Although the homemade cookies are delicious, they do not taste the same as a Marist cafeteria cookie. If you cannot purchase the original Sage cafeteria cookies, these homemade cookies are still an exciting project and make for a fun afternoon of baking. Making them on your own allows you to choose your favorite type of chocolate and how much or little you want. The melted chocolate is possibly the best part of homemade cookies! After finishing, I would say that baking homemade Marist cookies was worth the work as they smelled fabulous and tasted just as good; however, I would still recommend a classic Sage-baked cookie whenever you are in the mood for a sweet treat on campus!

Click the image above for the Marist School Cafeteria Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Happy baking!