The Obama Cookie

The Baby Boomers Café in Des Moines, Iowa is doing a raging business in their signature chocolate chunk cookie, which the Obama family fell in love with during the campaign. According to the Associated Press, ever since the cookie hit the scene as Obama's favorite, "the small downtown restaurant can't bake them fast enough."

Last summer, Obama's main Iowa campaign office was situated next door to the Baby Boomers Café, which provided ample opportunity for sampling the café's offerings. Michelle, Malia, and Sasha made frequent trips to the café during the Iowa campaign, and at some point the campaign staff began ordering chocolate chunk cookies by the dozen.

Lorraine Eaton, food writer for The Virginian-Pilot, ordered a dozen of the cookies to be shipped to her home for "research." She reported that "they weigh a ton," with each cookie clocking in at three ounces - nearly a quarter pound of cookie! Eaton has delivered several cookie samples to a local baker for "deconstruction."

The café has kept the cookie recipe a closely guarded secret. The café's baker, Tom Magnani, says that the recipe is a family heirloom. However, he has grudgingly admitted that the secret of the cookie lies in the chocolate chunks. "We don't use just regular chocolate chips," he told local television station KCCI, "it's chunks."

As demand for the cookies has risen, so has the price - from 50 cents each to 75 cents each.
Until someone cracks the Obama Cookie Recipe, you want to try your hand at some presidential baking. Michelle Obama's favorite shortbread cookie recipe was printed by Family Circle magazine. The shortbread cookies will be served to guests of the Washington DC Ritz Carlton for Inauguration Day.