In honor of National Cookie Day, I thought it would be fun to focus on my favorite thing about baking - apart from the eating - and that is making lasting memories with family, particularly with my kids in this case.

When I was little, some of my best childhood memories come from my grandparents kitchen. I remember my grandma being a great baker and my grandpa was fantastic at experimenting. His infamous and scary line was, “We’ll improvise,” when he didn’t have certain ingredients the recipes called for.

With my grandpa, sometimes it was a hit or a miss. He was known for taking the leftovers from the fridge and turning it into a soup each week. One time it was “Hot Dog Soup,” no kidding! Not his best creation… He made breads and got me hooked on Zucchini chocolate bread and that smell of a fresh loaf filling the kitchen. He taught me indirectly to have fun and enjoy the process, but most of all the company.

I remember the sheer joy of stepping up onto the stool to be tall enough to help. I got to stir the batter and test it out. We often made homemade cookies, chocolate being my favorite. It was a time where I wasn’t treated as “just a kid” but was included to make wonderful memories in what can often be a mundane task.

Though my grandpa has long passed, almost 20 years now, those memories with him in the kitchen, particularly over a bowl of cooke batter, live on so fresh I can feel as though I was just there.

It is those priceless moments I try to establish with my own kids now, and one day, hopefully, my own grandkids.

It is my hope you might get inspired as well to share in more of these moments with your loved ones. It really is the simple things that mean the most.

So, in honor of warm memories and a warm kitchen, here are a few of our favorite cookie recipes that my older son, Gavin, loves to bake.