The cookie Edward makes for Bella (Dark and Dreamy Chocolate Chip Cookie)

Using a Bosch mixer with wisps,
3/4 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) soft butter (room temperature)

Cream very well, 3 minutes

Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Cream again.

Change to dough hooks and add

*3 rounded cups flour

Add

1 bag milk chocolate chips 

1 bag of Dark Chocolate m&m's (12.6oz.)

When flour is mixed in and dough starts to take shape, it's ready. This should not take more than around one minute.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

* Rounded to me, means a round surface on the top, a little less than a heaping cup, but more than a level cup.

Remember that Bella's Birthday is Sept. 13

Lemon cookie (Number 2)

In a standing mixer, cream the following:
2 cups room temperature butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 minutes.

Add:
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
Juice of 3 lemons (1/3 cup)
1 small package of lemon instant pudding 3.4oz (four 1/2 cup servings)
10 drops lemon oil
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup sour cream
Mix well and switch to dough hooks.
Add 5 and 1/2 cups of flour. Mix until incorporated.

Bake 375 degrees for 11 minutes. You are looking for a touch of brown on the tops. Let cool on the cookie sheet as these are very fragile.

Click here to view my first attempt at lemon cookies.  Thought I would try a variation and try for a softer cookie. It worked. They tasted even better the second day.

Super Soft Valentine Cookies

1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup crisco
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons soda disolved in 2 Tablespoons water.
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
6 heaping cups flour

Cream butter, crisco and sugar very well in a Bosch mixer, 2-3 minutes.
Add eggs, milk, soda/water, baking powder, salt, vanilla.
Mixture is very wet at this point.
Switch to dough hooks and add 6 heaping cups flour.

Refrigerate dough until firm, at least two hours.

Take half the dough and roll out with extra flour on your cutting surface. Can add extra flour if needed to roll out dough.

Place cut out cookies on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is a great cookie because it has lots of height and is really so soft. Honestly, I've never had a cookie that beats it.

When mixing, you know your dough is ready when you see it begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You can add flour later when you roll them out, so it's okay if dough is a little sticky. It will taste better if it is. But on the other hand, you need to be able to get it out of the bowl and have it be workable. The six heaping cups should work for you.

Candy Cane Cookie

1 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
Cream well

Add
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix again

Add
2 3/4 cups flour and mix just until flour is incorporated.

Gently stir in
Andes peppermint pieces (1/2 of the bag)







Bake 8 minutes at 375 degrees. Let cool on cookie sheet then move to wire racks.

Makes 32 cookies.

Do not over-mix your flour.

Place on cookie sheet and bake.


Reader's Digest published this recipe in December 2010 as the number one cookie recipe in America (Easy Sugar Cookie). It is a fabulous cookie. I had the idea to add the peppermint pieces and turn it into my own holiday creation. These cookies have received some rave reviews. They are a very soft, tasty cookie. You can find the Andes pieces at Christmas time.
Also, I'm very excited to announce that this cookie won the UV magazine cooking contest. They get to be featured in the Utah Valley magazine.
http://blog.uvmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Picture-3.png.

So sad! There is a typo in the UV Mag recipe.  It should be 1-1/2 cups sugar.

Chocolate Chip m&m Cookies

Using a Bosch mixer with wisps,

1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
1 lb. (4 sticks) soft butter

Cream very well, 3 minutes

Add:
4 beaten eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
Cream again.

Change to dough hooks and add

6 heaping cups flour
Add
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 - 2 cups m&m's

When flour is mixed in and dough starts to take shape, it's ready. This should not take more than around one minute.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

This is the best cookie you will ever make. I have never met it's equal.

This cookie is great on it's own, but it can also turn into a fabulous holiday cookie by adding the pink and white m&m's for Valentines Day, red, white and blue for Independence day, or the red, brown and gold, for Halloween. Christmas m&m's are also available in their season.

Lucious Lemon Cookie

I was trying for the Paradise bakery lemon zester cookie.  It didn't happen, but I was pretty pleased with the result. I wanted a really lemony cookie but with some height and volume and also some softness. I wanted to add lemon pudding. I didn't want a shortbread cookie.

1 cup soft butter
1 cup crisco
1 cup white sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
Cream very well.

Add
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
juice of three lemons (1/3 cup)
1 small package of lemon instant pudding 3.4 oz (four 1/2 cup servings)
1 tsp. lemon emulsion
7 drops lemon oil
a couple of drops of yellow food coloring
1/2 cup sour cream
Mix well
Add 5 1/2 cups of flour.  Don't overmix your flour.

Bake 375 degrees for 11 minutes. You want the tops of cookies to be slightly brown, but not too brown.

I added the lemon emulsion and oil because I was looking for an intensely lemon flavor. I've read that emulsions don't bake out as easily as extracts. I've also been adding some lemon pieces to the batter. You know when you squeeze a lemon and you get the pulpy extras that hang over the edge? I've been using scissors to cut that part off and then add it to the dough.

Chocolate Cookie

1 cup soft butter
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 large box (5.1 oz) instant chocolate pudding
1 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
white chocolate chips (1/2 a pkg)
heath pieces (a handful)

Cream butter and sugar well. Add eggs, and mix well. Add vanilla, pudding and baking soda and mix again. Add flour last, and mix as little as possible.
Fold in white chocolate and heath pieces.

Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet
Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Behold the power of vanilla.  I had posted earlier that I wasn't completely satisfied with the taste of these cookies.  Not so! I doubled the vanilla and found the taste and texture was right where I wanted it to be.  I declare them perfect.  Enjoy.

Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
Cream very well. 3-4 minutes

Add
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream a bit more

Add
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
Mix a bit more

Add
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 ¾ cup flour

Mix until incorporated. (Don’t over mix this)
Mixture should look like loose crumbs.
It will mold into a ball as you form the cookie with your hands.

Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls and then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. These need to cool on the cookie sheet.
Makes 32 cookies.

Just made 150 of these for a cooking class. If you will add the cinnamon with your flour at the very end, it will keep your cookies from turning too brown from mixing. I changed the recipe from 2 tsp. cinnamon to 1 because I was worried about the dough, but, I realized, if you mix it right at the end, you will be just fine. I am liking this recipe more and more. Sheer perfection!
Something different about this cookie is there is cinnamon inside the dough, not just on top. It adds a flavor boost. It is also not a flat cookie. I despise flat cookies. You will love this dessert.
A snickerdoodle should not be overbaked.