Chance and Henry Take on the Cookie House

The Woman, the Myth, the Legend: Dacie Moses

Dacie Moses worked at Carleton for 50 years and became a staple of our community. Her house was known by students as a place where they could gather and enjoy some pretty legendary hospitality. She hosted brunches, acapella practices, and much more. It didn’t end when she retired or passed away either. Dacie left her house to the college under the condition that it continue to serve our students. To this day, the Dacie Moses House is a space where students can live, work, hang out, sing, and bake. Student workers keep the kitchen stocked, but there’s one important rule: if you use their ingredients, you have to leave your leftovers for others to enjoy. That means there’s always a huge variety of baked goods for the taking. And take I have.

I’ve been known to regularly stop by the Dacie Moses House to snag a quick cookie. No matter how late it is, it’s one of my favorite snack traditions. I also had a zucchini bread at one of their brunches this summer that I still daydream about. But still, I’ve never actually contributed baked goods of my own. I’ve always leeched off the hard-working confectionery labor of my peers, but today I said “enough!” Henry and I were sitting in the library, trying to decide what to do. That’s when the idea struck. Now could be our time to give back to the world. To do something for the people. And so, with nothing but a dream in our hearts and a hunger for cookies in our bellies, we set off towards Carleton’s legendary cookie house.

Where to Begin

We trekked over to the Dacie Moses House. We put on our aprons so that we could optimize our baking potential. But after that, we were stumped. We aren’t seasoned bakers (don’t let our professional chef’s garb fool you). We had no idea where to begin. But Dacie’s house is overflowing with inspiration. After inspecting the fridge and looking through the community pantry, we decided to go with gluten free sugar cookies. With our minds made up, we got to work.

Into the Oven (and Clean Up)

Once we’d mixed up the ingredients that had been provided for us, it was time to begin baking. With our cookies actually in the oven, we could also start focusing on the clean up. Dacie’s is a great example of what community spaces can look like at Carleton. It’s really cool that we can have a dedicated cookie house on campus, but with great campus resources comes great campus responsibility. Henry and I made sure to wash all of the bowls, pans, and utensils we used in our cookie making adventure. Always remember to leave the kitchen cleaner than you found it!

What’s Next?

After we took the cookies out of the oven, we definitely made sure to try them. That being said, we had more than we knew what to do with. The real question was what we should do with all the leftovers. Because we used their ingredients, we made sure to leave most of the cookies at the Dacie Moses House for other people to enjoy. Then we went about spreading cookies to our friends across campus. Building community isn’t always easy, but we learned today that cookies help a lot!