Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have found the BEST recipe ever for soft chocolate chip cookies.

I don't know about you, but i totally love soft chocolate chip cookies compared to the crunchy ones. Now, of course, I will totally eat a million of the crunchy ones if that's all that around, but soft cookies? Mmmm....I'd definitely eat 2 million of those.

I made one batch of these and had friends over for coffee and chit chat and they oohed and ahhed about the cookies. Then my kids oohed and ahhed about the cookies. Then Evan oohed and ahhed about the cookies and before i knew it, they were gone. So, I *had* to make another batch and share the recipe with all of you!!

The ingredients:

3/4 C. butter, softened; 1 C. brown sugar; 1/2 C. white sugar; 1 tsp. baking soda; 6-12 oz chocolate chips (I used 12 cause I love chocolate); 3 eggs; scant tsp. of salt; 1 tsp. vanilla; 2 1/2 C. flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Start by creaming the sugars and the butter together until creamy.

Then, in a small bowl, take the baking soda...
and add 2 Tbsp. of HOT water. Stir together and then blend it into the mixing bowl with the butter and sugar.
Next, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until blended, but don't over mix!
Couldn't you lick that whole spatula clean?!
I heart cookie dough. It should be it's own food group and we should be required to eat three servings of it a day. I'm just saying.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are browned. the tops won't get very brown, which is a good thing. (I just channeled Martha Stewart there, did you notice?!)
Ta da! The perfect soft chocolate chip cookie!
This batch didn't last any longer than the first batch! I over cooked one sheet of cookies a bit, and they weren't as soft, but still so yummy.

When you store these cookies, keep them in an air tight container. I accidentally left half a dozen of the cookies out on a plate and they were not soft the next morning. Don't worry, I totally made the sacrifice and ate them so no one would be forced to eat a non-soft cookie.

I am a martyr.

Make these pronto and enjoy!!!

Russian Tea Cookies

Every year at Christmas time, my mom would bake cookies. I know that most of you had the same thing happen at your house as well, but Mom baking cookies was a big deal. My mom will be the first person to tell you that she doesn't really enjoy cooking. The kitchen is not her place to go to relax away her troubles (as it is mine). So, when my mom baked cookies, it was a rarity that my sister and I would get so excited over.

My mom makes a few select cookies around Christmas and I always remember that her Russian Tea cookies (or Snowballs, as I called them when I was little) were my favorites. I got to help her roll the cookies in the powdered sugar and could eat one while it was still warm. When I started cooking Christmas cookies, I knew that the Russian Tea cookies would be one of my staples every year.

What I just recently found out is that, not only has my mom made them almost every year for Christmas, her mom (Grandma) made them every year when my mom was little and that my great-grandma (Mama) also made them, which is where Grandma got the recipe. What a fabulous recipe to be handing down to the daughters of our family!

The ingredients:

1 C. butter (soft); 1/2 C. confectioner's sugar (plus more for rolling); 2 1/4 C. flour; 1 tsp. vanilla; 1/4 tsp. salt; 3/4 C. pecans, chopped. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Start by mixing the powdered sugar and the butter...
till it looks like this:
Add the flour, vanilla, salt and pecans.
Mix. Now, take this dough (which will be very dry and crumbly) and chill it for an hour or two.
Once it's chilled, take the dough (which will still be dry and crumbly, now just cold as well) and squish them in your hand till you have a dough like texture and roll them into one inch balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Once the cookies have cooked and are still warm, take them and roll them into the powdered sugar.
Like so.
Place on wax paper and allow them to cool.
Once they're cool, roll them again in powdered sugar. See, I re-rolled the one on the right and it's much more snowball-esque.These are a bit more time consuming to roll than some of my other cookie recipes, but they are one of my favorite cookies.
Warning: these cookies are messy! Don't eat them on a first date. Or when you're wearing all black. Unless you care nothing of messes all over your face and clothing, then by all means, scarf them down happily!

Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles

One of Evan's favorite cookies is snickerdoodles. It's one of Elisabeth's favorites too. I always make them at Christmas time and once or twice throughout the year. They are super easy to make and soooo yummy (especially straight out of the oven!).

The ingredients:

1 C. shortening; 1 1/2 C. sugar; 1 tsp. baking soda; 1/2 tsp. salt; 2 tsp. cinnamon; 2 eggs; 2 3/4 C. flour; 2 tsp. cream of tartar; 1 tsp. sugar. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix thoroughly the shortening, sugar and eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed ingredients and mix until blended.

Take the dough and cool it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once it's chilled, take the cinnamon and the 1 tsp. of sugar and mix it together in a small bowl.
Take the dough and make small walnut size balls out of it. Or bouncy ball sized, since I actually can't imagine how large a walnut is; I can imagine the size of bouncy balls because they are thrown about my entire house.

Take the balls and roll them in the cinnamon mixture. (I just love those dimpled little hands.)Snickerdoodles spread, so give them room to grow on the baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
The finished product!
I love love love cinnamon, so I always enjoy these cookies. And, they're a great cookie to make if you need your time broken up since you have to wait for them to chill anyway. If you're feeling festive, you can always use the colored sugars to mix with the cinnamon to give the cookies a holiday look.

Enjoy!