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Wally Amos, with his famous watermelon hat.

Source: Wendy Kurtz

Last week, we did an ender on how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie, and listeners called in to divulge their best, most surprising baking secrets. I screened the calls during the segment, and I remember one caller from Louisville, KT, said he uses mayonnaise as a greasy substitute for butter in his cookie recipe. I was grossed out, but he insisted his secret ingredient magnifies the delectability factor 10 fold. Still, I don't know if I have the guts to try it. I also got a call from a gentleman who said he was Wally Amos, of Famous Amos fame. At first, I thought it was a crank call -- I mean, who would've believed Mr. Famous Amos himself, founder of the cookie brand I know and love so well (a little too well, actually), would call into our show?! So I put him on hold as we tried to verify, via Wiki, that he was, in fact, who he said he was. By the time we figured it out, we had run out of time in the segment, and it was too late to get him on.

I called Wally the next day to book him for a follow-up interview. He was in the middle of reading aloud to a group of kids in his home town, Kailua, Hawaii, also where his new cookie store, Chip & Cookie, is located. He put them on speaker phone and they all yelled out, "Aloha, Ashley." It was frickin' adorable.

Then fast forward to our letter segment yesterday: Wally joined us for a quick hit to tell us his secret ingredient. Turns out, Lennon had it right all along -- all you need is love. Wally elaborates:

I talk to my cookies... When they're in there baking, I tell them, 'Come on, guys, ... I want you to get nice and brown and just beautiful. And you're gonna taste so good.' And they feel it, they respond to it... The cookies are so happy because they feel that love, and they just want to pass it on to others.

Do you talk to your treats as you bake them? What do you say? And do they talk back?

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10:44 - July 16, 2008

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