Chocolate Frosted

Yield: about 3 dozen

Source: My mom got the recipe from her aunt, who it seems learned it from her mother, who got it from who knows where?

When I started this blog, my mom told me about her favorite cookie from her childhood. Apparently, her grandmother used to make these chocolate frosted cookies, and my mom remembers loving their cakey texture and frosting. Who wouldn't? My mom had to call her aunt for the recipe, and I for one, am glad she did. Now that I have made the cookie myself, I almost cannot forgive Mom for not making this cookie when I was a child!

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk (I have never come across a recipe with buttermilk that I didn't love!)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. soda

1 2/3 cup flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

There's no real trick to making this dough. Just melt the chocolate, (I melted mine in the microwave) and mix the ingredients together in order. I will say that I used bread flour, only because this recipe has a tendency to get a little dry and heavy. I was definitely glad that I did.

You can skip poison checking this dough. It is not the greatest raw dough I have tasted. Instead, have a warm cookie right out of the oven, before they are frosted. Yum.

The dough does not go on in neat little balls. As you can see, they are unruly piles of dough. It's part of their charm. I made the cookies quite small, as well. I recommend making them small, because the yield is only about 3 dozen, and you will want to make use of every tool in your arsenal to make these babies last more than a day or two.

Bake them at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I cooked them for 10 minutes, because they were small-ish. See how they bake up all puffy and beautiful? If they are not puffy, consider adding a touch more flour. Let them cool a few minutes before adding frosting.

I have trouble putting a frosting recipe down on paper. I'm just not the type to measure frosting, or purchase ready-made frosting, for that matter. I will tell you that for this recipe, I started by melting about 3 tablespoons of butter, and it turned out to be not quite enough. So, start with about 4-5 T. Melt the butter, add a little vanilla (about 1/2 tsp) and some cocoa powder (about 1 T.). Give that a quick mix with the hand mixer to smooth all those ingredients together, and then add some powdered sugar. Once again, I don't ever measure it, I just start adding some in a bit at a time, until it gets to the right consistency.

Today, I accidentally made the frosting too thick and it turned into little frosting pebbles. Still delicious, but terrible for spreading. I added about a teaspoon of milk, and the problem was solved. Honestly, the greatest thing about frosting is that it is so forgiving. Just keep adding powdered sugar or milk until you get the right consistency. Just keep some graham crackers on hand to spread the excess frosting on, if you have any! For this cookie, I actually wanted the frosting to be just a touch thin, and as it turned out, I got the consistency exactly right. (an unusual feat for me!)

I frosted the cookies gently and left them out to continue cooling. I was disappointed that my frosting only lasted as long as 21 cookies. :( Ah, what a wonderful cookie. I'm so glad to be re-introduced to a cookie my great-grandmother used to serve her family.

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Chocolate Chip

Yield: about 3 dozen

Source: Alton Brown's "The Chewy"

I remember the day my friend told me about this recipe. She urged me to go to Alton Brown's website and find this particular recipe. Being the Alton Brown fan that I am, I found and tried the recipe right away. At that time, the recipe had 525 reviews and 5 out of 5 stars. Today, 661 reviews and still 5 stars. Did anyone rate it less than 5 stars? I doubt it. I personally can't see how they could do it. It is hands-down the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever tasted. And I have tasted a lot of chocolate chip cookies.

Here is Alton's recipe:

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 T. milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Alton asks you to sift the flour, salt and soda together, and I rebelled and did not do this step. Actually, the truth is that I don't have a decent sifter and, more importantly, I am lazy. I'll admit it. I just put them in one at a time when it calls for dry ingredients, and I do the flour last. I know, I know... I'll get a sifter someday. No promises, though, about how often I will use it.

Melt the butter and add it to the mixing bowl. I used salted butter, rather than unsalted, because it was what I had in my fridge. If you do that, just be sure to cut your salt down to 1/2 tsp.

Add the sugar and brown sugar and cream on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, milk, and vanilla, and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Isn't it lovely? And dough made with real butter instead of shortening is definitely worth tasting before baking!!

While I'm thinking about it, I should mention that I agree with Alton on the bread flour. I keep a small amount on hand, though I use it only rarely. This recipe is one of the few reasons to keep it in the house at all. He also recommends that you let it chill for a couple hours. When I made them, I was short on time, so the dough only chilled for 45 minutes.

Alton calls for a #20 disher to scoop these onto the baking sheet. I have never been one to scoop cookies with an ice-cream scoop, (and therefore I don't own one appropriate for cookie dishing) so I just used spoons. Boring? Maybe. I do wonder, though, how big the #20 disher is. I suspect it is pretty big, because Alton calls for baking at 375 degrees for 14 minutes. I did mine at 350 for about 10-11 minutes, and they were plenty brown.

This might also be a good time to mention how much I love baking with a stone. The one I use came from Pampered Chef and I have used it for several years. My husband dropped it and broke a corner off, so I can now make only 9 cookies at a time, but I still use it. I love that it cooks evenly, doesn't require parchment paper, and is so easy to clean.

The cookies came out beautifully. They are just a touch crunchy, mostly chewy, with gooey chocolate chips and a wonderful buttery flavor. Perfection, thou art a chocolate chip cookie!! Do yourself a favor and eat one right out of the oven.

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Snickerdoodles

Yield: 4-5 dozen

Source: My grandma. I have no idea where she got it.

This past Christmas saw some rather pathetic Snickerdoodles at our family gatherings. Mine turned out too gooey and underdone. My mother-in-law's turned out too crispy. I somehow think that making Snickerdoodles is something of an art form. It doesn't seem like a tough cookie to make, but it has only rarely produced results that have made me happy.

I recently tried this new recipe. (New to me, that is.) My Grandma sent it to me, and gave it good reviews. (She also sent a recipe for Molasses Snickerdoodles that I can't wait to try!) I think this one is better than the recipe I made last Christmas, but I still wasn't super happy with the results. I don't think it's the recipe, though. I think it's the baker.

1 cup softened butter

2 cups + 3 T. sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

You start by beating the butter for 30 seconds, then adding in the 2 cups of sugar, and beating until it's fluffy. Add in the eggs, milk, and vanilla, and beat well. Then add in the salt, cream of tartar, baking soda, and flour, and make sure it all gets combined well.

A word about Cream of Tartar. I have struggled with the use of this little ingredient. I don't love the way it makes the cookie taste, so I have frequently left it out. It is really there to help control the acidity of the cookie, and since baking cookies is rather similar to a chemistry experiment, it is probably best to leave it in. I debated about whether to put it in today. What ended up making my decision was the cupboard. There was no cream of tartar in it. (Well, to be truthful, there was a full container, but it was in packaging that hasn't been sold in probably 20 years, so I was leery about using it.) Anyway, I left it out, and I kind of wish I had put it in. I think next time I make this recipe, I will. End of boring speech about cream of tartar.

You will need to make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar for this next step. I used 3 T. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. I used almost every last bit of it.

You roll the dough into little balls, roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and then place them on a baking sheet.

The recipe calls for you to smash the dough-balls down with a drinking glass to flatten them before baking. With my first pan-full, I did that. I was not thrilled with the results. They were running into each other, baking up into shapes that were, let's say, less than round, and generally looking not-so-appetizing. So, for my second pan-full, I baked them first, and then smashed them.

Only I don't think I baked them quite long enough. The recipe calls for 8 minutes at 375 degrees. However, when you don't smash them down first, I think they could use an extra minute.

On my third pan-full, I forgot to set the timer (possibly the most irritating and easily made mistake for the cookie baker!), and I let them go a little long. They were getting brown on top when I removed them. These actually turned out the best.

As you can see, there was quite a difference in how the different batches looked. The cookies on the right in the photo above were from the first batch, the press-before-baking batch. They are pretty ugly. Those on the left are from the second batch, and are beautifully and perfectly round. I love that. It looks so professional. Like they were made by a capable adult and not a 6-year old child.

So, to sum up, my recommendations are:

1. Use the cream of tartar.

2. Smash after baking

3. (and I cannot believe I'm saying this) do not underbake. Consider pushing the baking time to 9 minutes.

4. Enjoy with a big glass of milk.

No Bake Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

Source: I have no idea. I've been making these since I was a kid, and so has everyone else I know.

I asked my kids what kind of dessert they wanted, and two of them voted for no-bake cookies. I was surprised. They always seem so, I don't know, mundane or something. It's like they're not a real cookie. But, sometimes quick and easy is a nice change, so I went for it.

The truly nice thing about this cookie is that you can make it very quickly on the stove, and it never goes in the oven at all. Hence the name, no-bake. Frankly, I feel a little silly making this post at all, since I'm sure all of you made this cookie at some point in time, and it was probably back when you were 10 years old.

Usually, I opt for the no-bake chocolate cookie, but since I recently shopped the case lot sales, I went for the no-bake peanut butter cookies. (I have 12 small jars of peanut butter in my storage room. Well, 11 1/2.) I'll include both recipes here, though, since they are almost identical.

PEANUT BUTTER:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup coconut

3 cups quick oats

CHOCOLATE:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 T. cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup coconut

3 cups quick oats

You start by melting the butter. Add in the milk and sugar, and the cocoa if you are making the chocolate variety, and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for a minute or so, and then remove it from the heat. If you are making the peanut butter kind, this is the point where you add it. Stir it in and let it melt. If you are making the chocolate kind, add the vanilla now.

Have I mentioned that I love this Pampered Chef measuring cup for this job? It is perfect for messy jobs like peanut butter or shortening. You choose how much to put in, and then just push it right out into your bowl, or pot, as the case may be. I don't use it much, but for peanut butter, nothing else will do.

Next, just mix in the rest of the ingredients, which is nuts, coconut, and oats. A word about that. We're big coconut fans here. I love it. I also think walnuts are great in the chocolate cookies, although I wouldn't put them in the peanut butter kind. However, I know that some people are really opposed to coconut and some opposed to nuts. It's fine to leave them out, but you do have to make up the difference by adding more oats. It's not an exact ratio, either, meaning that 1 cup of coconut does not necessarily equal 1 cup of oats. Just add more oats until the consistency is right. Not enough oats, and the cookie will be gooey and stick to the pan, your fingers, and everything else it touches. Too many oats, and the cookie will fall apart and be very dry. I am intimately acquainted with both of these situations, having messed up in both directions in the past.

When we made these as kids, we always lined a cookie sheet with wax paper and dropped them onto it. Now, I prefer to put them into my mini-muffin pan. I always spray it pretty generously first with some kind of non-stick spray. Either way you do it, drop them in little globs and put the pan in the freezer for a little while. They'll be ready to eat before you can finish creating a blog post!

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Yield: about 4-5 dozen cookies

Source: Karl Wilson, a friend and neighbor.

I should call this post "A Failed Experiment in Kitchen Sink Cookies." They did not turn out at all like I wanted. I was supremely disappointed.

Our neighbor, Karl, makes these cookies, and I first fell in love with them when his wife gave me one. They are possibly the best cookies I have ever had. They have a little bit of everything in them. Karl didn't have a name for them, or a recipe, for that matter, so, consequently, I have dubbed them the Kitchen Sink Cookie.

I was unsuccessful at procuring a recipe for this wonderful creation. It's not that Karl is unwilling to share, it's more like he doesn't have a recipe. He makes it from feel, so to speak, and thus it is a little different each time he makes it. Undeterred, I set out to recreate it from my own experience and knowledge. I won't call it an epic failure, but I was definitely disappointed.

I started with a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe:

1 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups flour

Then I added a bunch more ingredients.

In these bowls are chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped walnuts, coconut, chopped orange peel, and dates.

Karl uses craisins. I thought I had craisins in my pantry, but it turned out I didn't. I used the dates I had leftover from making the Graham Cracker Pudding, so I used those instead.

I'm actually looking forward to giving these another shot. Next time I will make the following changes:

1. Using craisins and not dates.

2. Using more walnuts. (as you can see, I only used about 1/4 or 1/3 cup. It was not enough.)

3. Using more coconut.

4. Using less orange peel. I like the orangey flavor it gives, but I think a teaspoon would be plenty.

5. Using a different chocolate chip cookie recipe. Maybe one which calls for butter instead of shortening. We'll see.

On the bright side, the butterscotch chips were perfect!

I baked them for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

They were good, but not Karl Wilson good. I'll figure this out yet.