The story of Rachel Edri, the mother and grandmother from the southern city of Ofakim, who staved off Hamas terrorists with coffee and cookies, quickly reverberated across Israel and around the world.

Rachel and her husband had just returned from the bomb shelter shortly after 7a.m. on Simchat Torah morning when five Hamas terrorists broke through the windows of their home armed with grenades, rifles, and other weapons, and took them hostage. For the next 20 hours, while the terrorists negotiated with Israeli police, Rachel forced herself to remain calm and play host. “If they’re hungry, they’ll be more angry,” she told herself, and offered them chicken and cookies.

This is said to be the recipe for those cookies which, along with her clear-headedness and immense faith, helped save her and her husband’s lives.

Read more about Rachel’s heroic actions here.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup oil
  • 2 cups, plus 2 Tbsp. flour
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ¾ cup chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
  2. Beat the eggs and sugar together.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until a sticky dough is formed.
  4. Make balls the size of a ping-pong ball, and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper [I used a 1 tbsp measuring spoon to scoop the cookies because the batter was quite sticky.]
  5. Bake for about 14 minutes.
  6. The cookies will come out of the oven soft, but will firm up as they cool.

Yields: 20-ish cookies