'Tis the Season!

The countdown is on - Christmas is coming and that means the next few weeks will be filled with holiday parties. Maybe a few cookie exchanges and perhaps a bit of stress. Whether you have one such sweet treat exchange to attend or need a bit of sugar to calm your stress, these perfectly nutty cookies are sure to fit the bill. 

 

When I was young, elementary age, I lived next door to a very sweet couple. We were close - so close that I called them "Aunt" and "Uncle" despite being of no blood relation. I lived in Oklahoma and my extended family lived in Ohio and these sweet neighbors filled the absence of nearby relatives. I learned so many things from them - how to sheer sheep, milk cows, butcher a chicken and even helped a cow give birth to her calf. Clearly, this was a rural community. Every June I made peanut butter cookies for my stand-in "uncle" on his birthday - they were his favorite cookie and to this day I rarely make these without thinking about him. He was a kind, gentle, soft-spoken, patient man - completely the opposite so many men in my life at that time and I will be eternally thankful for his mild and considerate example. I was pregnant with my second child when he passed - I am certain that he is sitting at the feet of Jesus. I hope they have peanut butter cookies there.

 

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

 

1 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup peanut butter chips

 

Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking pwder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Add peanut butter chips and stir by hand to combine. Refrigerate batter until set - at least 30 minutes - can keep in an airtight container for one week and bake a few at a time for a wam after shcool snack.

Roll into 1-inch ball and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.

At Last...My Love Has Come Along

I fell off the wagon. I strayed from my healthy eating and calorie counting and fell smack into the slough of deliciousness...it was sinful. I need an extra 1 1/2 hour zumba class to help me repent. Given the chance...well, I'd do it again...sooner rather than later.

For the past 15 years I've been hunting for a cookie. Not just any cookie. The. Perfect. Cookie. Not the way-too-soft kind you find with the recipe on a bag of chocolate chips. Not the too-much-oatmeal-to-ever-leave-the-cookie-moist kind either. Step away from the knock-off recipe that turns out to be rock hard disappointment. I need a yummy balance of crunchy at the edges and moist in the center, but not too much of either facet. I traveled far and wide (in my mind) on this hunt for the perfect cookie. And at last...my love has come along. Bake some soon and forget making them as 2-inch wide petite things - we bake them biiiggg and watch them spread to a good 4-inch wide, grown-up cookie. 'Cause around here we go big or go home.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

4 sticks (1 lb.) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbs. Vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup pureed oats
4 1/2 cup flour
1 Tbs. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. salt
4 1/2 cups chocolate chips (we used bittersweet chocolate, but semi-sweet will work just as well)
3 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together oat puree, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside. In the bowl of a large mixer, cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla until well combined. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stire the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts to the dough and mix by hand until well incorporated. Spoon onto an ungreasedcooke sheet lined with parchment or a silpat baking mat. Place the scoops about 2 inches apart - you don't need to press the dough flat. Bake for 14-16 minutes (I find 16 is just perfect in my oven) until they are light brown on the edges, but still soft in the middle. Store cooled cookies in a sealed container. Dough can be chilled overnight before baking or store dough in an airtight container for 3-4 days for fresh cookies anytime. Makes approximately 5-6 dozen cookies.

xox,
A

Got Chocolate?

Cookies and chocolate are two of my favorite things...put the two together and sweet bliss has been found. This super rich cookie will leave you craving a large, ice cold glass of milk...my critics agree that the cookies (and the milk) won't last long...






Double Chocolate Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips*
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combing granulated sugar, brown sugar and butter, mixing until well combined. Add the eggs and beat at medium speed until batter is light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips to the the batter and stir until just combined - do not over mix. Drop with medium size cookie scoop onto silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for 15-18 minutes, depending on your oven...in mine, 16 minutes is perfect, but just watch them. They will seem a little moist when you first pull them out, this is good. They will set up quickly. After removing them from the oven, immediately pull the parchment and/or silpat from the cookie sheet right on to the counter. The cookies will easily come off the parchment when they are cooled, so you if you're not using a silpat, the parchment can be used over and over again for the entire batch. This yields roughly 4 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

*Live-It-Up Variation: Substitute 2 cups peanut butter chips in place of white and semi-sweet chips.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

A good snickerdoodle should be lightly firm on the surface while soft and chewy in the middle. I developed this recipe over 10 years ago and have especially fond memories of baking them during pregnancy with my oldest child.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Topping:
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream together butter and sugars on high speed. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

In a small bowl combing the sugar with the cinnamon. When the dough is ready, take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a ball. I use a medium cookie scoop, but really you can make these cookies any size you want from dainty to giant. Roll the ball in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and press onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave plenty of space between your cookies - they spread.

Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, no longer. They may seem undercooked, but will continue to develop as they cool.

Valentine's Day Cookies

I love to flood and layer cookies with all kinds of fun and elaborate decorations. However, when the two little people need lots of V-Day cookies for school, I keep it simple...after all, it's doubtful that 25 first and second graders are going to be examining the decorations! Below are some of the super-simple cookies we decorated. My daughter loves the color combination of pink and green, so we varied a bit from traditional V-day colors.