A Cookie with Character

"Her “house cookie” is famous for its unique technique and irresistible rippled edges, but its biggest fans are still her Minneapolis family."

- By Emily Tyra. Photography by Eliesa Johnson

Blogger and cookbook author Sarah Kieffer never expected that a little baking trick she first tried in ninth grade—tapping the sheet pan in the oven during baking—would have a hand in her most well-loved recipe: Pan-Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies. But why are those gentle raps possibly the most delicious thing one can do to transform an already iconic cookie? Sarah explains, “The pan-banging technique I use in my recipe calls for the sheet pan to be tapped in the oven every few minutes, causing the cookies to ‘fall' and creating ripples on the edges of the cookie.” This yields a two-textured treat: crunchy outer crinkles that shatter in your mouth and a soft center bursting with chocolate.

The self-taught baker dabbled in the technique while working at various coffeehouse-bakeries in Minnesota in the 2000s—a time that defined baking for her: “I got thrown into it due to lack of help in the kitchen and, after a few failed cookie attempts, fell in love with the whole process.

Sarah found it calming, for starters, but she was particularly drawn to the communion, “the act of sharing and the act of receiving,” of it all. She says, “I liked the actual acts of mixing, stirring and scooping, but I also loved watching people come in and find comfort in their time eating and drinking in the coffeehouse.

After her two children were born, she made the decision to be a home baker. “I must admit, I have enjoyed this period of cooking and baking the most,” she says. So much so that she debuted her Vanilla Bean Blog to chronicle “a food history of sorts for my family.” Her baking experiments have started to become heirlooms in the making.