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MANY ARE THE FOODS that have had a starring role in FRIENDS episodes, across all those sprawling seasons. We ourselves are proud of this exhaustive and definitive ranking of every Thanksgiving meal ever served in Monica’s apartment on the show. But even amid classics like Mockolate and Rachel’s English Trifle, there was a coveted position enjoyed by Phoebe’s cookies. On actress Lisa Kudrow’s birthday, we’re exploring the two memorable cookie connections her character had on FRIENDS.
The very first time we hear of Phoebe’s cookie-making prowess is in Season 1. In Episode 12, she finds herself in a quandary when Rachel’s current beau, Paolo, makes a pass at her during a massage appointment. To make matters worse, Rachel is planning her first weekend getaway with Paolo when the incident occurs. It’s early days yet, since Rachel’s dramatic re-entry into Monica’s life, and Phoebe doesn’t feel confident enough in her friendship with Rachel to break the news to her without any prelude. A solution presents itself in the form of a treat: Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies.
She brings the tin over to Monica and Rachel’s apartment, sits Rachel down for a talk, and then presents both a cookie and the following dialogue:
PHOEBE: Ok, um, we haven’t known each other for that long a time, and, um, there are three things that you should know about me. One, my friends are the most important thing in my life; two, I never lie; and three, I make the best oatmeal raisin cookies in the world.
RACHEL (accepting the cookie): Ok, thanks Pheebs. (Proceeds to take a bite) Oh my God!
PHOEBE: I know.
RACHEL (continuing to relish the cookie): Why have I never tasted these before?!
PHOEBE: Oh, I don’t make them a lot because I don’t think it’s fair to the other cookies.
RACHEL: All right, well, you’re right, these are the best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had.
PHOEBE: Which proves that I never lie.
After making this sound and uncontestable argument, Phoebe then proceeds to tell Rachel about Paolo’s transgression, leading to a genuine moment of bonding between the two women. We can infer, from the fact that the Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies don’t make an appearance again, that Phoebe indeed doesn’t lie — she really doesn’t make these spectacular treats all that often in order to be fair to others of their ilk. That hasn’t meant that FRIENDS fans haven’t recreated their own versions of Phoebe’s famous cookies!
The other major cookie escapade involving Phoebe comes all the way in Season 7, when Monica and Ross are helping her decipher the recipe for her grandmother’s famous chocolate chip cookies. We find out that Monica’s desperately wanted Phoebe’s coveted family recipe for said cookies, and unfortunately — since Phoebe’s grandma has passed away, and Phoebe’s own apartment and all its possessions burned down — all they have to work with is a single frozen cookie left over from the last batch the elderly lady ever baked. They run into what they think is a dead-end (pun wholly intended) when Joey gobbles up the all-important lone-survivor cookie with scant ceremony. This sends Monica into a frenzy of baking cookie samples for Phoebe to test for their similarity to her grandmother’s.
At their wit’s end, Monica and Ross quiz Phoebe about any surviving family members (not Ursula, obviously) or friends of her grandmother’s who might have had the recipe as well. On thinking it over, Phoebe believes there’s some hope…there may be someone on the French side of the family who’d be in on the secret. After all, as she notes, her own grandmother got it from her (French) grandmother, “Nestlé Toulouse”.
It takes a second for the shoe to drop, when Monica and Ross incredulously ask Phoebe if she means “Nestlé Toll House”. Phoebe is disbelieving, going so far as to accuse the Geller siblings of “murdering the French language” as Americans are wont to, but can’t deny the evidence before her own eyes when Monica hands her a package of Nestlé Toll House cookies, and there on the back of the pack is the printed recipe!
Of course, nothing is as funny as seeing Lisa Kudrow in action, so here’s a clip (starts at 2:48):
