A cookie break compendium

Left to right: David, Victoria, and Ellie proudly display the copious amounts of cookies they made for a weekly cookie break.

One of the best parts about being a member of the MBARI community is the weekly cookie breaks— yes, cookie breaks. The easiest way to get such hardworking scientists and engineers out of their labs and talking to one another is to put out a plate of cookies. Each week, different lab or work groups volunteer to be in charge of a cookie break, which can really take the form of any dessert food. The interns took on a few cookie breaks over the course of ten weeks, which ranged from root-beer floats to Costco birthday cakes, but were always a success.

To kick things off, Ellie, David, Victoria, and Rachel baked an exciting array of cookies. David volunteered peanut butter cookies that were so peanut buttery—instead of flour, the recipe just called for more peanut butter. Ellie brought browned butter chocolate chip cookies, M&M cookies, and double chocolate cookies (contributing an amazing 18 dozen cookies in all), Victoria made oatmeal and sugar cookies, and Rachel provided the much-needed vegan pretzel cookies so that everyone would have a tasty treat.

Working together, MBARI was able to finish up all the cookies—quite the feat!

Next came David, Victoria, and Danielle’s soda-float break. Whether the MBARIans went with orange soda, Pepsi, or root beer, evidence of how quickly everyone slurped down their floats indicates they were all delicious.

Finally, Alia, David, and Victoria grabbed some delicious Costco birthday cakes to celebrate the birthdays of both one of the interns, Beverly, and our program coordinator George.

Alia makes final checks on the birthday cake break before it’s time to eat!

Regardless of what was served at each cookie break, one thing is certain: dessert treats definitely make Mondays more palatable!