Recipe for success: Nonprofit uses girl's cookies as Abilene Gives reward
Not many people tell Sherri Statler what to do, as her husband will attest.
But Statler got bossed in the kitchen last week.
By a 10-year-old.
"Wash your hands," ordered the youngster, who was in charge of a two-person, cookie-making detail in the kitchen of Christian Homes & Family Services of Abilene.
Chloe Forsberg gave her instructions in a loving manner, of course. That's how she has been raised.
But it was clear that she knew what she was doing, though she double-checked with her mother about the baking time.
We don't know how many Aggies it would take, but it took all three of them to figure out how to operate the stove. This kitchen wasn't their home turf.
"Mommy, I need your help," Chloe called out.
The setting was for cook, not baking time. After a series of beeps as the keypad was punched, all adjustments were made. Except for one.
"Where's the start button?"
"Right there."
The first batch of cookies, 24 on the sheet of parchment, came out lightly brown - perfect for chocolate chip.
Cookies for what?
The baking session was a head start on baking dozens of cookies for Tuesday's Abilene Gives online campaign (abilenegives.org), which runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Christian Homes plans to reward donors with cookies, a thank-you for chipping in.
How many dozens? About 200. Donors of $50 will get a dozen.
Abilene Gives is now the 12-hour online donation blitz to benefit registered nonprofits. About 170 organizations have signed up, with hopes of setting a record. The current mark, set in 2021, is $1.99 million. Two million dollars doesn't seem out of reach.
Previously, Christian Homes has offered donors Bundt cakes, pies and cookies to donors who choose to support the nonprofit that provides foster care for children who have been abused or neglected, and maternity services for women with unplanned pregnancies. Woman often choose to place their babies for adoption.
Over 60 years, homes for more than 2,400 babies and children have been found.
With incentives such as cookies added to general goodwill, what more could Abilenians want?
"It has worked in the past," said Megan Forsberg, Chloe's mom.
It wasn't going to be just Chloe making all the cookies.
She provided her recipe for Chocolate Chip Chip-in Cookies so that grown-ups could join in. Also, Sigma Theta Chi sorority at Abilene Christian was going to chip in.
"She began making cookies six years ago" for her huddle (youth) group at Hillcrest Church of Christ, her mom said. "Every Sunday, the kids would come in waiting for Chloe's cookies. She titled them her 'Famous Cookies.'"
The Taylor Elementary School fifth-grader is famous for her caramel chocolate chip cookies. That would be more time consuming for this effort, so they're sticking with chocolate chip.
She had only so much time to bake Thursday. She was going next to Taylor's student art show, in which she had a piece.
When the first batch came out, lucky taste-testers got to sample Chloe's cookies.
M'm, m'm, good.
Fostering lives by opening their home
Chloe is one of three daughters of Megan and Chad Forsberg.
However, foster children have been placed in their home. Megan herself was a foster child, adopted through Christian Homes. The youngster's grandfather, Benton Clark, currently is on the Christian Homes board.
The Forsbergs have been licensed foster parents with the organization since 2019. They have taken in 13 children, five of them boys.
"We had twin boys last summer, and that was so much fun," Megan said. They first had a chance to have the boys but were going on a family trip to Yellowstone and couldn't take newborns. A few months later, the boys needed a home and Megan's wish to have twin boys was fulfilled.
The boys were in the Forsberg home from July to November.
"They're back with their parents," she said. "They are doing very well. We still hear from them."
The Forsberg house has been full of kids for years now.
"The most we've had is three extras," Megan said. "That was challenging."
Megan said "it's always tough" when a fostered child leaves but the upside is that they are going to a good setting. Still, there are "phantom cries" in the night when the house quiets.
"We get up and then go, 'Oh wait, the babies aren't here anymore,'" she said. "But we feel like the Lord protects our hearts. We do go through a grieving process and have a special family time. We had some older kids who really grew in our hearts."
A few of Chloe's secrets
Statler heard about Chloe's fondness for baking cookies and asked if she would help lead the way for the Abilene Gives effort.
"She gave us permission to use her recipe .... she gave me very specific instructions on how to bake the best cookies," Statler said.
Two keys are using parchment. That allows a nice baking of the the dough, makes the cookies easy to remove and it saves time during cleanup. Cookie sheets sparkle when the parchment is lifted.
The other? Butter. Butter makes it all good.
Chloe uses a spring-loaded cookie scoop to drop uniformly shaped dough onto her sheet.
"Are these ready to go in the oven?" Statler asked the boss.
"Yes," Chloe said.
"Can I put these in the oven?" Statler asked.
"You can," Chloe said, ready to prepare the next batch.
The oven was set at 350 degrees. The question was, how long to bake them? Chloe checked with mom.
"Mom, 10 minutes, right?" Chloe asked.
"I usually start with eight," came the answer. The baking time always can be extended.
Chloe told Statler to start with 8 and "make sure to turn on the oven light."
"Do you need help, Mrs. Statler?" mom asked, laughing.
No. Chloe had it under control.
Sure enough, 8 minutes in a cold oven was not enough time.
Soon enough, though, the tempting smell of fresh-baked cookies filled the kitchen when the golden brown cookies were removed.
An advantage to parchment is that the baker can grab two sides and slide it off onto the counter or a cooking rack. Then, the sheet, though hot, is ready for the next batch.
You could tell that Team Cookie, each wearing colorful aprons, could be a a well-greased(?) machine.
"They are really good cookies"
Chloe took a family cookie recipe that included caramel - she pronounces it "car-mel." It came from a children's cookie that Megan's mom used when they baked. You have to bake the caramel just right or, mom said, "you can chip a tooth on it."
That's not the chocolate "chip" cookie you'd want to promote.
"She tweaked it here and there and made it her own," Megan said. "I love them. They are really good cookies.
"You can just turn her loose in the kitchen now. They're a staple in our house, especially when we have people coming over."
Statler found that out first-hand last week.
"I don't know how they started talking about cookies, but they decided they would do this this year, and here we are," said Megan, watching the activity.
Yet another generation later, her Chloe is the female version of Famous Amos.
You can't call Chloe Forsberg the Cookie Queen of Abilene. That name has been taken by a woman who creates colorfully iced cookies.
But maybe the youngster is the Cookie Princess, who admitted the "bake one, eat one" strategy works well for her.
A donation Tuesday gives you the chance to taste for yourself.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Recipe for success: Nonprofit uses girl's cookies as Abilene Gives reward
