Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies For Nik

Friday May 9th, 2008 at 8:53 pm

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nikki’s only request from me while she was stuck in the hospital trying to hold in her baby this week were some soft chocolate chip cookies she could enjoy while she’s on bed rest. I actually only have crispy chocolate chip cookie recipes (’cause that’s how I like ‘em), so I searched allrecipes.com for a soft cookie recipe and found this highly rated one. I went through page after page of the comments, reading up on all the suggestions .. so at the bottom of this post you’ll find my modified version. I did the research so you don’t have to :)
(Keep reading …)

View 5 Comments | Add a Comment



Let the holiday baking begin!

Sunday November 11th, 2007 at 4:19 pm

Today I decided to whip up a batch of snickerdoodles to kick off my holiday baking. I’m going to try to post all my recipes I make this winter, just because in the past I’ve lost my fudge recipe :( So I want to remember all my yummy treats. You can look forward to cookies, peanut brittle and hopefully fudge from me this year :)

Snickerdoodles

These are the cookies that won me Sean’s heart. Light and puffy with a little crispy edge .. they’re just awesome. They’re also super simple to make and kids can join in too.

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (leave out if you use salted butter)
  • 4 tablespoons white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Cream together butter, shortening, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Then blend in the flour, the tablespoon of cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. If you can do it by hand .. you’ll be rewarded with a prettier cookie.
  3. Mix together the 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a resealable baggie.
  4. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. I use a large cookie scoop for this, you get perfect balls every time. Coat each ball with the cinnamon sugar by placing it in the bag and shaking it up (perfect for kids). Place the balls 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet (prevents burning and makes cleanup super easy)
  5. Bake for 8 minutes (should be a little undercooked, avoid over cooking at all costs!) Let the cookies sit on the sheet for 2 to 3 minutes out of the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack.
  6. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk!

- notes for the future - I’m not a fan of the slight bitter taste the cream of tartar gives the cookie, but it makes the texture amazing. I read that you could substitute 4 teaspoons baking powder to remove the tartar and the soda. Also adding a tablespoon of cinnamon to the batter might give a stronger cinnamon taste, covering up the tartar, or even extra vanilla -

[UPDATED] - Made another batch adding in the tablespoon of cinnamon and an extra teaspoon of vanilla and they were awesome, so I added them to the recipe above!

No Comments | Add a Comment

On this day: My Celeb. Look Alikes ..


Mom’s Sour Cream Walnut Coffee Cake

Saturday August 18th, 2007 at 11:15 am

Mom’s coffee cake is our favorite breakfast cake for holidays. We usually treat ourselves to a slice or two as we open our stockings and enjoy the first cups of coffee on Christmas morning :) I’m not a big fan of the walnuts .. but if you dont chop them up too much they’re easily picked out.

  • ¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 ½ tsp soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 pint commercial sour cream
  • ¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
  • Powdered Sugar Glaze

Combine butter and sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powered, soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, missing well after each addition.

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts, mixing well.  Spoon about one-third of batter into a greased and floured (Pam works) 10 inch tube pan or bundt pan; sprinkle with one third of nut mixture.  Repeat layers twice; bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done.  Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pan.  Place on serving dish, and drizzle with glaze.

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

  • 1-½ cups powdered sugar
  • 2 TBL water
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients, mixing well.

No Comments | Add a Comment