Personalized fertility – and cookie – recipes

Fertility treatments are a lot like cookie recipes: the process may be different but the goal is the same, to create an amazing “cookie”!

Drs. Havemann and Mucowski share their own unique cookie recipes to bring a little joy and deeper fertility understanding to our patients.

Dr. Havemann’s “never flat” chocolate chip cookie recipe

Video transcript

Recipe for cookies, and fertility treatment success

Hi, I’m Dr. Havemann from Dallas IVF, and welcome to my kitchen! Every fertility patient when first getting started on their journey will go into a fertility clinic and have an evaluation done.

That will usually consist of tests, blood work, ultrasounds, so that we as the physicians can get to know you better and create and tailor a treatment plan just for you. I try to tell people it’s like creating a recipe, and every recipe is going to be different for every single patient. It may be different including pills or injections or different things but our end goal will always be to build a family.

It’s just like baking cookies: each recipe is going to be different but at the end we’re going to have the same result of an awesome cookie. So, in the spirit of learning about recipes and getting to know infertility journeys a little bit better, I welcome you to my kitchen. We’re going to bake some chocolate chip cookies together.

I grew up in a really small town in Missouri and some of my earliest and fondest memories are of my grandma growing up on her farm. And my grandma was amazing. She was the most creative person and she was the best cook. So, on her 50th wedding anniversary she put together a recipe book of all of her favorite recipes, and she gave it to all of her grandchildren and all of her best friends. And I cherish this recipe book because it always allows me to have a piece of her with me. And we’re going to make today my grandma Margaret’s chocolate chip cookies.

Now, if you can see on my recipe book, really closely on the back there is a picture of me circa 1980 on the farm with my grandma growing up. She calls these chocolate chip cookies her “never flat chocolate chip cookies” because they are thick and cake-like and they’re amazing.

So, to get started making our “never flat chocolate chip cookies,” the ingredients that you’re going to need are: one cup of shortening, you’re going to need one cup of brown sugar, one cup of white sugar, two eggs, three tablespoons of hot water, a tablespoon of baking soda, three cups of flour, two tablespoons of vanilla, a pinch of salt, and one bag of chocolate chips

To get started, the first thing that we’re going to do is we’re going to add the shortening and the sugar combination. And with the sugar you’re going to use your brown sugar and your white sugar all together. Now, I’ve made these cookies many, many times and I always try to make them a little bit healthier as I’ve gotten older. And the one thing I’ve learned is you can substitute many things to make these healthier, but they’re never going to going to taste just as good as if you use the real thing and they’re never going to be quite as fluffy unless you use the absolute best parts of making them.

Once you’ve creamed together the shortening and all the sugars, then you’re going to add your two eggs … and the hot water together. Combine all of this, then you’re also going to add your baking soda, your salt and vanilla.

Now, I have with me today my handy-dandy, Wonder Woman spatula. Just like with infertility, it takes a strong person to get through those treatments. I don’t always have the most confidence in my baking in the kitchen, so I always bring Wonder Woman with me to add confidence and to make sure that my baking goes according to plan. And I know each and every person facing fertility treatments is their own Wonder Woman. So, stir this up, and get it nice and creamy together.

Once you have that solution all mixed up, you’re going to add your flour – a little bit at a time –and mix together until you have the best recipe and the best cookie dough. Now, you can’t have chocolate chip cookies without a whole bag of chocolate chips. Add those in, stir them up all together, we’ll bring Wonder Woman in and give it a great big stir.

Some of my fondest memories of my Grandma Raglan’s chocolate chip cookies are when I was coming home over breaks during college and medical school, and my grandma would always have a big batch of cookies waiting for my sister and me. And we would take these cookies back to school, and all my friends looked forward to having grandma’s “never flat chocolate chip cookies.”

Once you’ve gotten your batter all mixed up, then we’re going to take it, put it on a sheet pan, spray so it doesn’t stick and drop out your cookie dough. When dropping out your cookie dough, I tend to just pick it up in my hand and make the cookie pieces as large or as small as you want. In my family, we like big, flaky, cake-like cookies, so they get rather big.

Once you’ve gotten all your cookies placed out, you’re going to place them in the oven and cook them at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes. The hardest part is just waiting for them to get done.

My favorite part of baking cookies is sharing them with those that I love, including my kids! As you can see, our chocolate chip cookies turned out big and fluff just like the “never fail, never flat” cookies that they are.

Fertility treatment support

When going through infertility treatments, it can be quite a hard journey. So I encourage you to do the same thing: share that journey with your friends, lean in and find those that you love that can support you throughout.

Now, enjoy these chocolate chip cookies and I hope you had fun baking in my kitchen today. Thanks so much!

Dr. Mucowski’s “Against All Grain” real-deal chocolate chip cookie recipe

Video transcript

Science of baking and fertility treatments

Just as holiday baking combines art and science, so does fertility treatment. Where every ingredient has a role to play, and every recipe can be tweaked according to individual preferences.

For me, when it comes to cookies, I try to practice what I preach and I transitioned from a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe to one that’s modified for my lifestyle. This particular recipe comes from “Against All Grain,” which had been a Christmas present years ago and this recipe has long since become a family favorite.

While the recipe may seem a little unconventional, I guarantee the ingredients are familiar: an egg, some flour, some sugars and of course chocolate chips. With a result this good, I wouldn’t be surprised if you come back for seconds –  perhaps like your fertility treatment.