• When the hunger pangs strike, many of us reach for a favorite, traditional afternoon snack: milk with cookies. Dunk the cookies in the milk and savor the sensation of the moist yet crunchy cookie. Mmmm, utter bliss, especially when its Oreo cookies. But this perfect snack can be ruined by something as simple as a part of the cookie falling into the milk and sinking to the bottom, just out of your reach. Or your milk starts to taste funny due to the odd mixture of crumbs, nuts, and M & Ms floating in it. To prevent your snack from taking such a heinous turn, one can follow a few simple, yet key steps.

    The first step is the selection of the proper cookie. In order for optimal dipping pleasure, the cookie needs to be just that, a cookie. No topping like nuts or sprinkles, or things inside the cookie, like raisins or chocolate chips. Icing is okay in minimal amounts, since it tends to melt and blend in with the milk. Cookies such as sugar cookies, Oreos, and shortbread cookies are good examples. Try using firm cookies because one, it means less crumbs in your milk and two, the more firm the cookie, the longer you can dip without fear of the cookie disintegrating into the milk.

    After selecting a plateful of cookies, pour yourself a glass of milk. The mouth of the glass should be twice as big as the cookie to prevent the cookie and your hand from getting lodged in the glass. Also, the glass should be two-thirds of the way full so you don’t have to reach in very deep to dip. Next, grasp the cookie you intend to dip since will determine how deep the cookie goes in. The milk should just skim your finger tips when you dip. Let the cookie soak in the milk. I personally recommend 7 seconds at most. Seven seconds as in one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, not one, two, three. Be warned, the more of the cookie that is exposed to the milk and the longer it’s exposed, the greater the chance of a part of the cookie falling into the milk.

    Finally, remove the cookie from the milk, pop it in your mouth, and savor the milky, sweet goodness. Resist the temptation to shake off the excess milk because the cookie will break apart if you do that. Pat yourself on the back for not losing the cookie and a job well done. Repeat until your stomach feels like it’s going to burst. Then go and work sleep it off.