Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Mom always made these cookies for us growing up. There really was never a time that we didn't either have these in the house, or weren't making them sometime soon! Now that we're all grown up, I like to make these at my house. I still go back to Mom and Dad's, and Mom has started to keep these in the freezer - my Dad likes them frozen as well! 

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do:

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp water
2 eggs
12-oz pkg chocolate chips (or to taste)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt; set aside.
2. Combine margarine, shortening, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, water; beat til creamy. Beat in eggs. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by well-rounded half teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Note - you can use margarine or shortening, but the combination above - 1/2 & 1/2 - makes these cookies just the right mix of flat and fluffy.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

I do believe it's time to start making some Christmas cookies! I've been seeing some absolutely delicious ones come across the blogs.  Here is one that I made today, with my son who was home from daycare sick. I found this recipe here.

These would also be delicious with both white chocolate and dark chocolate chunks in them in place of the M&M's!  I did read a tip that had honestly never even occured to me before - when you're making drop cookies with chips, M&M's, or any kind of filler in them - save a littel and press it into the tops of the cookies. They're just prettier!

1 1/4 c. butter or light butter spread
2 c. flour
1 c. light brown sugar, packed
3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 (9.5 oz) bag Mint M&M's, or about 1 1/2 cups

cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy

beat in eggs one at a time

add vanilla

add cocoa, salt and baking soda until well blended

beat in flour

fold in candies

chill dough for one hour up to overnight

drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheet

bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes - cookies will be puffed up, but centers will appear slightly under-baked

allow to cool on sheet for 1-2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks for further cooling

Peanut Butter Cookies

My husband's favorite:-)  I made a half batch of these beauties Thursday evening.  We kept a few at home and brought the rest over to my sister-in-law's when we saw the baby last night!  She is just a perfect little angel. 

Here is the receipe, from Allrecipes.com:

1 cup unsalted butter (margarine)
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (or creamy)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions
1.Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.
2.In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3.Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork(dipped in sugar), making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

From Good Things Catered:

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Adapted from the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 8x8 baking dish.
-In medium bowl, combine dry ingredients and set aside.
-In bowl of stand mixer, or by hand, mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined.
-Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined.
-Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined.
-Stir in chips.
-Pour into baking dish and lightly pat to even out mixture in pan.
-Place in oven and bake until light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet center is still soft & puffy (about 30 minutes in my oven).
-Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.