“Captain Jocko’s Chocos,” named for the USS Yorktown’s first captain, are based on the recipe for 10,000 chocolate chip cookies that is displayed in the bakery exhibit. The original recipe was made to serve the more than 3,000 sailors aboard the ship and used 112 pounds of chocolate chips, 500 eggs, and 165 pounds of flour in a single batch. Patriots Point enlisted the help of local Marine Corps veteran and Mount Pleasant business owner, Webb Cheshire, to reproduce this recipe in a manageable batch.
“It’s an honor to recreate the Yorktown’s cookie recipe for Patriots Point,” said Cheshire, owner of Charleston Pops and Front Porch Coffeehouse and Creamery. “Chocolate chip cookies are a universal joy and I am excited for people to taste this historic recipe.”
The 10,000 cookie recipe is a conversation starter in the museum. Guests consistently wonder aloud what those cookies may have tasted like and now they can find out for themselves.
“We hardly ever get to experience history first-hand in this way,” said Museum Curator Melissa Buchanan. “These cookies were a taste of home for the sailors and a moment of respite in the midst of war. Veterans consistently tell us the food aboard the ship was top notch, and after tasting these cookies, I agree!”
Patriots Point gave USS Yorktown veterans some of the first samples of Captain Jocko’s Chocos during their annual reunion. They all agreed the recipe is spot-on and it transported them back to their days eating in the ship’s mess hall. World War II veteran, Jack MacDade said, “They are very good. And I should know, I ate a lot of these.”
The cookies will be available in the Ship Store and at Front Porch Coffeehouse and Creamery. Cookies are $5 each and sales support the USS Yorktown Foundation.