All good marriages are partnerships, and I don’t just mean between husband and wife. For a marriage to prosper, partnerships with friends and extended family members must be created. These connections counter the modern feeling of alienation that even romantic love can’t salve, as Alain De Botton writes in “Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion:

In the lonely canyons of the modern city, there is no more honored emotion than love. However, this is not the love of which religions speak, not the expansive, universal brotherhood of mankind; it is a more jealous, restricted and ultimate meaner variety. It is a romantic love which sends us on a maniacal quest for a single person with whom we hope to achieve a life-long and complete communion, one person in particular who will spare us any need for people in general.

So we need our friends, we need our extended families, and we need good partnerships. This blog is no different, and recently it has partnered with Dove Chocolate, to become part of its TasteMakers program, which means I’ll be developing a few recipes for them here.

As the Stay at Stove Dad household is perfect partnership (ahem, with a good sense of humor), I’ve teamed with Santa Maria to develop the recipes. She’s much better at the sweeter things in life than I am. Here’s her first recipe, for Surprise! Cookies. And, is there a better way to make connections with others than to give them cookies? Here is her report:

One of the happy memories from my childhood is of biting into a warm cookie fresh from the oven.  My mom is a prodigious baker: molasses sugar cookies, Scotch shortbread, Tollhouse cookies, lemon sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, snowballs, and, once in a blue moon, humble cookies with a delicious sliver of mint chocolate in the center.

That last recipe is lost, so I’ve done my best to create an equally delicious version that will give you a lovely chewy golden cookie, with a molten mint chocolate surprise inside.

The recipe is quick and easy – and if you prefer an even quicker and showier version, you can simply press the chocolates into the top of the batter, and not cover it. I prefer the surprise version because, who doesn’t like an unexpected treat?  And also because the chocolate stays gooey longer, insulated by the cookie batter.

Surprise! Cookies

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• (2 sticks)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 package DOVE Mint & Dark Chocolate Swirl Promise

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Recipe will make 3-4 dozen cookies.

Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time.

Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Place a DOVE Mint & Dark Chocolate Swirl Promise drop on top of each mound of cookie dough then, with greased fingers, gently push the chocolate drop into the batter, then pull the sides of the batter over the top of the chocolate drop so that it’s covered completely.

Bake for 10 minutes or til golden brown.

These cookies are delicious anytime, but a special treat when served warm from the oven, with a gooey center, and a cold glass of milk!