Snickerdoodles

I decided yesterday, that snickerdoodles are the perfect Christmas cookie. I love snickerdoodles and feel like it is a cookie that is pretty hard to dislike- so I made a double batch of these and wrapped them up to give away.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Topping

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Cream together the butter and sugars with a mixer on high speed.
2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well.
5. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees while you let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes.
6. In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon for the topping.
7. Roll the dough into balls, roll the dough balls in the topping and place on an ungreased cookie sheet (I like to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper- I think the cookies cook more evenly).
8. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes and no more (this is important- the cookies WILL look underdone but they continue to develop once they are out of the oven).
9. When the cookies have cooled they should be soft and chewy in the middle.

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I love cookies. Chris loves cookies, and these are some of our favorites. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with coconut and pecans. When I make these I have to give them away or I will end up eating all of them. This time I decided to make these jumbo sized and they turned out just as well as regular sized- in fact I think they turned out better.














Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Spray your baking sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper (I always just line mine with parchment paper because we have a "vintage" oven and it cooks unevenly- the parchment paper seems to help with that).

Stir together the flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Stir together the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl. In another large bowl beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy and blended. Add the egg mixture in two additions and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Reduce the speed to low, slowly add the dry ingredients, and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Stir in the oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheets (when I did the jumbo sized cookies I fit 6 on a sheet- normally I could fit 12).

Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden and the centers are barely cooked, about 10 minutes. (Even with the jumbo cookies they will still be ready in about 10 minutes). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 to 3 minutes then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe makes 4 dozen regular cookies or 2 dozen jumbo.

Adapted from Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook