Gingerbread cookies

I don't recall having much (if any) gingerbread growing up, but over the past few years, I have developed a reverence for the stuff. I was fortunate enough to find this recipe, titled "The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies," on my first attempt at making gingerbread. It always turns out beautifully for me.

I like my gingerbread cookies nice and soft. I also like to use my special Williams Sonoma Message In A Cookie Cutters to stamp Christmas messages into them. They make the perfect neighbor gifts. I make several batches of this each December.

Gingerbread Cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3⁄4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients until well blended. 
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg together until blended. Add molasses and vanilla; mix until well blended. 
3. Gradually add dry mixture to wet ingredients; mix until smooth. 
4. Divide dough in half and wrap in Saran wrap. Let stand at room temperature for at least an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 
6. Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin. Roll out one portion of dough to about 1/4" thick. It helps to also sprinkle a bit of flour on the dough. 
7. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, and place them on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake 7-8 minutes for soft gingerbread.

Amazing Peanut Butter Cookies

These are the easiest and yummiest peanut butter cookies! A friend recently gave me this recipe. I was extremely skeptical at first, based on the simplicity of the ingredients, but it worked, AND they were delicious!

Amazing Peanut Butter Cookies
(yield 2 dozen)

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix peanut butter, sugar, and egg together until well-combined.
2. Scoop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
3. Bake 18-20 minutes.
4. Resist eating them all yourself :)

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies (seriously... this is the 4th or so variation we've posted). These oatmeal chocolate cookies are scrumptiously soft, and the oats give a great texture.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Yield: 4 dozen)

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. In large bowl, use a hand mixer to mix brown sugar and butter until blended. Add vanilla, egg, baking soda, and salt, mixing until light and fluffy. 
3. Stir in oats and flour until uniformly mixed; stir in chocolate chips. 
4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. 
5. Bake about 8 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. 
6. Share with your loved ones!

Marble squares

Hungry for chocolate chip cookies, but short on time?

Need a yummy dessert for a pot luck?

Marble squares are a delicious solution to both of these predicaments. They are essentially chocolate chip cookie bars, which means they are cooked in one pan and you don't have to spend an hour or more baking 12 cookies at a time!

Marble Squares

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F, or the appropriate temperature for your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
2. Make the batter for your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, using about 1/3 to 1/2 less chocolate chips than it calls for. One of our favorite recipes can be found here, with the ingredients listed below:
   

   1C shortening
   3/4 C sugar
   3/4 C brown sugar
   1 T vanilla (liberally)
   1 t salt
   1 t baking soda
   2 eggs
   2 C flour (may take up to 1/4 C more)
   12 oz. Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate chips

3. Spread your cookie dough into a 9"*13" baking dish.
4. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
5. Set into your preheated oven for about 5 minutes, or until chocolate chips are melted. Remove baking dish from oven. Using a knife, "cut" into the dough length- and width-wise in straight lines, pulling the chocolate as you go. This is to create the "marbled" look. See photo below.
6. Continue baking for about 15-20 minutes, until done.
7. Cut into squares and serve (goes great with ice cream!)

It will be sticky, but try to spread the cookie dough evenly into your baking dish.

The dough may shift in the direction you "cut" it, but it will slide down the edges of the pan as it finishes cooking.

Notice the lines running horizontally in this photo. Cut vertically also.

The final product!

Variation on a Theme

In case you have not already noticed, we have two recipes for chocolate chip cookies (Chocolate Chip Cookies and Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies). Why shouldn't we add a third?

I got this recipe from a packet of recipe cards I received in the mail. I like the texture and the toned-down sweetness.

"Secret Recipe" Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or quick)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Put oats in a food-processor, chopper, or blender. Process until finely ground. You will basically end up with an oat flour.
3. Combine list items from oats to cinnamon.
4. In a separate bowl, cream butter (softened) through eggs. Beat until fluffy with a hand mixer.
5. Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients, blending well. Add chocolate chips and nuts.
6. Scoop out small portions onto baking sheet. We lightly greased ours; the original recipe suggests using parchment paper. The original recipe also calls for making each cookie from 1/4 cup dough; I used less. 
7. Bake until cookies are lightly browned. Makes about 45 cookies. Enjoy!

oxox

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A normal title for a "normal" recipe. Actually, this comes from my (Thomas') mother's arsenal and is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe that I know of. We often would double or quadruple it, as a single batch only makes about 40 (forty). And yes, I can end a sentence in a preposition and be grammatically correct. And yes, I can start a sentence with "and"... :D

On to the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1C shortening
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 T vanilla (liberally)
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 eggs
2 C flour (may take up to 1/4 C more)
12 oz. Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven
2. Mix all the ingredients excepting the flour
3. Add flour (more if it is extremely sticky)
4. Roll into 1.5 inch balls
5. Put into preheated oven. Bake at 375° for 4-5 minutes or until they look like slightly doughy cookies (but have flattened out into the shape of cookies)
6. Take out (and don't let the bottoms get more than light brown)
7. Let cool a bit
8. Test (i.e. taste), varying cook time accordingly

(Mmmmm...Crisco!)

(Eggs, sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla...)

(Cookie dough sans chocolat)

(After the addition of Ingredient X)

(Dough ready to be incinerated)

(Some of the final product)

And, as a bonus, Lisa has assembled ice cream sandwiches. Try them out!

First Recipe Post!

The following is a scrumptious cookie recipe that we got from Thomas' family (thanks Liz!). Thomas sent it to me over the summer while I was home in California, where I made these cookies for the first time.

They're not as sweet as "normal" chocolate chip cookies, and they've got a softer, spongier texture, but I think I'd choose them over the "normal" ones any day! Also, I thought I had some pictures of the ones I made over the summer, but unfortunately I can't find any on my computer. (**UPDATE 9/5/2010 : photos added from 8/28/2010**)

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C shortening
1/2 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
3 C raw grated zucchini
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
3 1/4 C flour
1 C choc chips

Mix all together and bake at 350°F.

Now, Thomas is the baking expert, and he'll tell you that the amount of flour and the baking temperature can vary. He likes to bake one to three cookies as a trial run at the beginning to determine whether the dough needs more flour. Also, it is very important to watch these ones in the oven.... you don't want to overcook! I don't remember exactly how long they should bake, but shoot for about 9-10 minutes. This recipe will yield about 5 dozen cookies.

we mixed our batter with an electric hand mixer

yummy cookies on our table! with banana bread on right.

oxox