Apple-Oat Cookies

Another winner from the Betty Crocker Fall Baking cookbook! I knew this cookbook would serve me well. These cookies are very yummy, and I am excited to take them to my coworkers tomorrow. The only issue I had is that the drizzle was not thick enough and basically soaked right into the cookies. So, aesthetically, they may not be too pleasing, but they sure are yummy.

Apple-Oat Cookies (source: Betty Crocker Fall Baking cookbook)

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon abking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups old fashioned or quick cooking oats
1 medium apple, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup shredded)
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons apple juice or milk (I used milk because we never have apple juice in the house)

Heat oven to 375. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla, scraping sides occasionally, until blended.

In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in oats and apple. Onto cookie sheets, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart.

Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

In medium bowl, beat powdered sugar and apple juice (or milk) until smooth, using wire whisk or fork. Drizzle over cooled cooking on cooling rack. Let stand about 1 hour or until glaze is set.

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

So, apparently, the big pumpkin scare is over. I was worried there for a while that I wouldn't be able to find any canned pumpkin this season, and I have to admit that I was getting kind of anxious about it. I did end up finding a bunch of sugar pumpkins to roast, which kept my anxiety at bay. But now the shelves in the stores seem to have an ample supply of the canned stuff so everyone can stop panicking :-) I grabbed a few small cans at Target last week, and my Mom grabbed me 4 of the big guys. So now I should be set until next year :) I'd also like to thank my good friend Meredith for picking me up a can of pumpkin when she found some at the grocery store. Sorry I had to turn it away Mere, but I just don't know what I'd do with one more can! Thanks for thinking of me anyway!

Now, on to these cookies. I believe I started hearing about these last fall on a cooking message board I used to frequent a lot more often than I do these days. I'm pretty sure I recall these babies being pretty popular and I'm not sure why I never tried them. I guess I just had so many other things to try, they never made it close enough to the top of the list. Well, I am really glad that I decided to give these a whirl because they are really yummy! A note of caution though, the frosting is very rich. I mean, 3 cups of confectioner's sugar will hurt your teeth, and your tummy. The recipe says to frost the cookies generously, but I think just a thin spread would be sufficient. I went ahead and generously frosted mine, and they are very yummy, but maybe a bit too much frosting for me. I think spreading too much frosting on hides the real flavor of the cookies. And these cookies deserve to shine. They are light and cakey with a hint of spice from the cinnamon. I'd even venture to say you could go without the frosting, if you're the kind of person who prefers their cookies frosting-free. Either way, these are a winner, and I'm excited for Maura to test them out when she gets home from school today.


Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting (source: Betty Crocker by way of Carrie's Sweet Life)

2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin ( not pie mix)
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Browned Butter Frosting

3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup butter (do not use margarine or spread; it will burn)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well blended. Beat in pumpkin and eggs until well mixed. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. (I always mix my dry ingredients together with a whisk before adding them to my wet mixture. This way, I'm sure that everything is as evenly incorporated as possible.)

On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 45 minutes.

In medium bowl, place confectioner's sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk. In 1 quart saucepan (I used my 9 inch nonstick skillet and it worked just fine) heat 1/3 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until light brown,

Pour browned butter over powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low speed about 1 minute or until smooth. Gradually add just enough of the remaining tablespoon of milk to make frosting creamy and spreadable. Generously frost cookies. (I did not need to add any additional milk. Three tablespoons was perfect.)

I wanted to add that I think this frosting would pair well with other types of desserts. I'm thinking some kind of spice cake or apple spice cake. Maybe I'll experiment with it a bit...

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love pot lucks at work. It gives me a chance to bake something new and have people to share it with so I don't eat it all by myself. Everyone at work said they wanted cookies. And they requested the molasses cookies I made around the holidays. That sounded good to me because they are my favorite. But I didn't have all the right ingredients so I decided to try something new. And as common and "run of the mill" as Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are, I think I've made them once. And it was years ago and they didn't not turn out well. I don't know what I did differently, but I know I used this same recipe and that they were not good at all.

This time however, they were perfect. Soft and chewy, sweet but not too sweet. They are wonderful, and I will make these over and over.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (source: Quaker Oats by way of Bakingblonde's Weblog)

2 stick margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins (bakingblonde soaked her raisins in warm water and vanilla for 10 minutes and i didn't not do this. i think i will next time though, because my raisins weren't as tasty as i'd hoped they'd be)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat margarine or butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes (mine took more like 15 minutes for some reason) or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wir rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Black and White Cookies

So for those of you who don't know, my husband grew up in New York. Specifically the Bronx. So when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday this year, he said he wanted me to try to make authentic New York Black and White Cookies. Not exactly what I had in mind, but hey, it's his birthday after all.

So I started to think of where I might find a recipe. I picked up my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook and low and behold, there was a recipe! Not to mention wonderful tips and pictures (thank you Martha!) That's what I love about this book. Awesome step by step instructions and pictures for every single recipe. That being said, this is actually the first recipe I've made from this cookbook (that I received from a friend in December) I'm not very good at remembering to look through my cookbooks! I normally use online websites or recommendations from friends. Anyway, I've been meaning to bake something from this book since the day I got it and this was a perfect inaugural recipe :-)

Anyway, as I suspected, Martha did not disappoint me, or my New Yorker husband. These cookies were incredible. I'm considering making just the cookies again, without the frosting. They were just so sweet and cakey and delicious! One teensy adjustment that I would make next time is to not use lemon juice in the frosting. It was a bit overpowering. I think next time I'll just use milk. Martha says these cookies are better the next day and she is right. They were good the day I made them, but after sitting on the table wrapped in plastic overnight, they were even better. Well, the ones that were left anyway. See, my lovely dog ate all but 3 while we were sleeping. Argh! All that hard work. Oh well, I definitely learned my lesson about leaving the dog and the cookies out overnight :-)

Black and White cookies (source: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup plus 3 tbsps sugar
2 large whole eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Black and White Icings ( recipe follows)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of and electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add whole eggs and egg yolk, one at a time; beat until combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the cream. Beat until just combined (do not overmix).

Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop dough 3 inches apart onto prepared sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the edges begin to turn golden and the centers are cakey and tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from parchment and let cool completely.

On the flat side (bottom) of each cookie, use a small offset spatula to spread chocolate icing over one half of the cookie, creating a straight line down the center. Spread white frosting on the other half. Set cookies aside until icing is set, about 30 minutes. Makes about 18 cookies.

Black and White Icings

Ingredients:
4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions:
Whisk sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tbsp water in a bowl until smooth. Add more water, if needed, until mixture is slightly thicker than honey. Set aside half of the sugar mixture (for white icing). Stir cocoa into remaining sugar mixture to combine (for black icing); thin with water if needed. Use immediately.
Maura approves :-)

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Around the holidays, tons of people were making these cookies. I realized that I had never made them before. I've really never even eaten them all that much. I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies. But I wanted to try them because everyone raved about them and they're so darn cute. These are very simple and very tasty. Even for someone who doesn't particularly care for peanut butter cookies! I had to give a bunch of them away to friend tonight because my husband and daughter really don't eat peanut butter cookies at all and I didn't want to eat them all by myself!

Peanut Butter Blossoms (source: Michelle at Sugar & Spice)

Ingredients:
48 Hershey's kisses, unwrapped
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown suage
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
sugar for rolling

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Remove wrapper from chocolates.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg. milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together Flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. (I lined my sheets with parchment paper)

4. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie; cookie will crack around the edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Gingerbread Cookies

These need some frosting. I have decided that cookies that require rolling and cutting are not my friend. So I'm not going to make them anymore. I had to add so much flour to these just to keep them from sticking to my counter. So they are pretty dry. They taste ok, but they're dry. Some kind of frosting would help. I guess thats what I get for using the recipe on the side of the molasses jar...

Gingerbread Cookies
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Beat butter with sugar and molasses. Mix in egg. Sift dry ingredients and mix into wet mixture. Chill in freezer 1 hour or in refrigerator 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350. Roll out portion of dough 1/4" thick on lightly floured board. Chill remaining dough. Cut with cookie cutters, place on greased baking sheets (I used parchment paper) and decorate with raisins, chip or nuts, if desired. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool.

Lemon Cookies

So I feel like I need to start by saying that these are actually called Frosted Lemon Cookies. but as you can see from my pictures, I decided to skip the frosting. Since these are going in tins with lots of other goodies, I thought it would be a good idea not to frost them. So I didn't. Anyway, they are very very good and I am definitely holding on to the recipe. And when I make them just to have around the house, I will definitely frost them.

I found the recipe on Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats. I love this blog. I have yet to be disappointed by one of MrsPresley's recipes. And her pictures always look so yummy. So when I saw these cookies on her blog, I knew they'd be a sure thing. Maura absolutely loves them and I think I'll be making them just for us sometime very soon.

Frosted Lemon Cookies (source: Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats)
Cookie Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted Butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Heat oven to 400°F. Combine all cookie ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Meanwhile, combine all glaze ingredients in small bowl; stir until smooth. Frost warm cookies with glaze. Sprinkle with additional lemon peel, if desired.

Yield: 5 dozen cookies.

Molasses Cookies

This was the first time making, and eating, molasses cookies for me. I had honestly never even heard of them. But someone on the nest posted a link to a food blog, and there were molasses cookies staring me right in the face. They looked amazing and I knew I had to try them. They have become my new favorite cookie. I think I will always have a jar of molasses in my house.

The blog that I found them on is named Cast Sugar and it is amazing. Everything on there looks incredible and I'm so glad that I stumbled across it. Thanks for all the great recipes Nemmie!

Molasses Cookies (source: Nemmie at Cast Sugar)

Ingredients:

2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. ginger

¾ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. allspice

¾ c. shortening

½ c. dark brown sugar (I didn't have dark brown so I used light brown)

½ c. granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. molasses

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a medium bowl, sift and mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugars, until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the egg, vanilla, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Roll dough into small balls, and roll balls in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment papaer on my cookie sheets), about 2 inches apart. Bake 11-13 minutes, then cool on racks.

Snickerdoodles

The fall after I graduated from high school, I worked at a mall in Towson, MD at an Imaginarium toy store. There was a Great Cookie right down the hall and I remember being in love with their Snickerdoodles. They were so soft and chewy and sugary I am really glad that I don't work near a Great Cookie anymore, because I can guarantee that I would be there everyday buying a sleeve of those things.

I realized a few weeks ago that I had never made them, and I had an opportunity so I decided to give them a try. The ones I made were not soft and chewy like the ones I used to love at The Great Cookie. But they were totally delicious. The recipe was posted on the What's Cooking message board on The Nest by nestie I&R_4_23_06. She got the recipe from Cooking Light. I didn't know it was a Cooking Light recipe until I had made 2 or 3 batches of them. Turns out, if you make only 30 cookies, they are only 99 calories per cookie! Yay! I usually get about 34-36 cookies out of this recipe. We had a lot of fun making them. Maura loved rolling the dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Snickerdoodles (source: Cooking Light)

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat just until combined. Shape dough into 30 balls.

Combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small shallow dish. Roll balls in sugar mixture, and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until tops crack. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 99(30% from fat); FAT 3.3g (sat 2g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.2g); IRON 0.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 15mg; CALCIUM 17mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.9g; SODIUM 59mg; PROTEIN 0.9g; FIBER 0.3g

Chelle's Chocolate Chip Cookies

My good friend Michelle came up with a new chocolate chip recipe and when she said they were everything she dreamed a chocolate chip cookie would be, I knew I had to try them. And I am so glad I did. They are perfect. I did mess up a little at first. I forgot to stick the dough in the fridge before baking. But that's ok, they were still yummy. I also didn't have enough vanilla. I could definitely tell that the cookies needed more vanilla. Again, they were still delicious. Here's Chelle's recipe. My changes are in italics. But they really aren't changes. Anyway...

Chelle's Soft & Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Source: Sugar & Spice)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips because that's what I had. They are yummy!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (I set my oven to 350 because I was using nonstick pans)

2. Microwave butter for 30 seconds, stir and set aside. Do not worry if it is not completely melted.

3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk and beat until combined. Gradually beat in flour mixture, beating just until combined (do NOT overmix!). Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Refrigerate dough for 15-30 minutes.

6. Drop by rounded spoonful (I used a Pampered Chef cookie scoop that holds approximately 2 tablespoons) onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes (my cookies only needed 10 minutes) or until edges are just brown and middle is not quite set yet. Cool on pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

7. Before adding more dough to warm cookie sheets, place sheet in freezer for 5-7 minutes to cool.

Store in an airtight container. Recipe yielded 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Oh Kitchen, how I missed thee!!

I missed my kitchen so much while I was on vacation. I got to cook dinner for everyone (meaning about 24 people) only once. It was quite the experience. But I loved it. I made shredded BBQ chicken, breaded zucchini, and corn on the cob. The whole dinner was a huge hit. It was a ton of work though. Imagine shredding enough chicken for 24 people. Not a quick meal! But anyway, I missed my kitchen and did not get any chances to bake at all.

So tonight, I got back in the kitchen and threw together a dinner with what I had on hand. I made some BBQ chicken in the oven and roasted some potatoes. I was going to make a veggie side, like roasted zucchini. But I forgot to pick up veggies at the store yesterday, and all the veggies leftover from before we left for vacation looked questionable. So no veggies with dinner tonight.

For the BBQ chicken, I just let the chicken pieces soak/marinade in some BBQ sauce for about 15 minutes(Hunts' Hickory and Brown Sugar...sooooo good!) I lined a baking sheet with foil, placed the chicken pieces on the baking sheet and baked them at 425 for about 25 minutes. I took them out about basted them, then put then back in the oven for another 15 minutes, basting with the sauce one more time before they were done cooking. It was super easy and super yummy.

To roast the potatoes, I just cut them into chunks, laid them on a baking sheet (which i sprayed with olive oil first), sprayed the potatoes with olive oil, and then sprinkled some salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning on them. I threw the potatoes in the oven at the same time as the chicken, and they were done before the chicken, so i probably should have waited.

I also decided to bake tonight, since I haven't baked in over a week, and I loooove to bake. Also, tomorrow is Maura's first day of 3rd grade and I wanted to bake some goodies for her to have in her lunches for her first week of school. I used a recipe I have used over and over again for Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. But I made it differently. This time I used Dark Chocolate cocoa powder and White Chocolate Chips. This is by far my favorite cookie recipe. I am not a huge fan of white chocolate, so I was hesitant to try it this way. They were very tasty, but next time I will stick to other add-ins. I have made them with semisweet chips, and with chopped up dark chocolate and milk chocolate bars. The original recipe comes from foodnetwork.com and can be found here.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. In another large bowl stir together butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined. Add white chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly.
For cookies: Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes. Cool on a baking rack.
For bars: Pat dough into a greased 9 inch square baking pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cut into squares when cooled

Oh, and here's a picture of the beach for you :-) We went to Bethany Beach, Delaware last week and had a blast with my entire family.

Jenny Lea, I love your grandma!!

I'm always interested in trying new cookie recipes. Especially for chocolate chip cookies. I think the ones with pudding in them are my favorite. But really, I can't decide! A good friend from the Nest What's Cooking message board shared this recipe that she inherited from her Grandma.

Now, I have never made chocolate chip cookies, or any cookie for that matter, with shortening. Growing up, my mom really only ever used butter. I can vaguely remember her using those sticks of shortening for something, but I can't remember what. Anyway, it was almost always butter. I had a can of shortening in my cabinet from a failed attempt at cornbread. And that was months ago. But the stuff lasts a year, and when I saw that Jenny's recipe called for shortening, I saw it as a good opportunity to use some of it up.

The cookies turned out chewy and rich and delicious. One more chocolate chip cookie recipe to add to my collection!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (source: Jennylea525 from the nest)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Cream shortening, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then stir in dry ingredients. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Jenny says to make sure not to over mix once the dry ingredients are added. Also, it took the entire 10 minutes for my cookies to be done. I also rotated the pans halfway through. The recipe above is just the way Jenny wrote it. But I made a double batch and got about 4 1/2 dozen cookies out of the recipe. But I made some of them bigger than others.

It's official...these are my favorite!

I forgot how much I love the Soft Chocolate Chip cookies. Ya know, the ones with pudding mix in them? I have made them so many times in so many different ways. I've tried french vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, and lemon pudding (don't recommend this one. they were not good) I know I messed one batch up because I used the wrong sized box of pudding. I think it was the chocolate ones. They were really dry and not good. But the ones I made tonight were amazing. I used vanilla pudding mix in these and they are soft and chewy and delicious. The picture I got was not good, so I apologize, but I'm adding it anyway!



Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding & pie mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (12 oz. bag) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour and baking soda; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat in the instant pudding until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls (I rolled mine into balls) onto ungreased cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine took 16 minutes to get the edges just browned) in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

(I wanted to add that I C&Ped this recipe from chelley's blog. I was way too lazy to type it out myself)

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I've made this recipe before. But not since I started my blog :-) So I had to make them again so I could post about them. So that will be my reason for baking them tonight. Anyway, I heard about this recipe on the nest on the What's Cooking message board. Everyone raves about them and the first time I made them, I was less than impressed. They just didn't knock my socks off the way I had hoped they would. But I gave them another shot a few weeks ago and I'm glad I did. I'm not sure what I did differently. Maybe it was when I put them in an airtight container with a loaf of bread. Yeah, that was probably it. Well, tonight I tried another trick I learned from my friend Amber (of Amber's Delectable Delights) She said that I should chill the dough in the fridge before baking. Just for a little while. So I did that and they were perfect right out of the oven. I also made sure I didn't overbake them. I have a tendency to do that sometimes. So here's the infamous BFCCC recipe (from allrecipes)

Best Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. *Note: I did not make them this big. I dropped them by rounded tablespoonfuls.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes (mine were perfect after 15 minutes) in the preheated oven or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.