My Favorite Cookie Recipes

MY KIDS' FAVORITE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Beat in oats and coconut. , Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets; flatten slightly. Bake until lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. , Break each candy bar into 12 pieces; press a chocolate piece into the center of each warm cookie. Remove to wire racks.

MY FAVORITE COOKIE

Steps:

• Cream together butter or margarine, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, salt and baking soda.
• Roll dough into 2 inch diameter logs. Wrap in waxed paper and freeze.
• Slice and bake anytime at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) until light brown.

MY FAVORITE ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• Watch the video of the icing above so you get an idea of what the final consistency should be.
• Pour confectioners' sugar, meringue powder, and 9 Tablespoons of water into a large bowl. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat icing ingredients together on high speed for 1.5 - 2 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 5-10 seconds. If it's too thick, beat in more water 1 Tablespoon at a time. I usually need 10 Tablespoons but on particularly dry days, I use up to 12-14 Tablespoons. Keep in mind that the longer you beat the royal icing, the thicker it becomes. If your royal icing is too thin, just keep beating it to introduce more air OR you can add more confectioners' sugar.
• When applied to cookies or confections in a thin layer, icing completely dries in about 2 hours at room temperature. If icing consistency is too thin and runny, it will take longer to dry. If the icing is applied very thick on cookies, it will also take longer to dry. If you're layering royal icing onto cookies for specific designs and need it to set quickly, place cookies in the refrigerator to help speed it up. See blog post above for make-ahead and freezing instructions.

BUTTERY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Steps:

• Kick the tires and light the fires to 375 degrees.
• Cream together your butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy.
• Add in the egg and vanilla, mixing thoroughly.
• Beat in the flour, baking soda and salt.When that is done, fold in the two cups of chocolate chips by hand, and prepare to put them on some parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
• Roll a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball, 12 per cookie sheet.
• Take a glass and using the bottom, flatten out each cookie. If the cookie sticks, start wetting the bottom of the glass with water, they will come right off.
• This is a dry dough - no sticky chewiness going on here- but it's just wet enough to make perfect little flat cookie patties.
• Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes, until golden brown.
• Cool on the sheets completely.These turned out to be wonderfully crispy, crunchy and were surprisingly a hit with everyone. The butter flavor really is apparent in these ones due to the lack of flavor that comes with brown sugar, but that isn't a bad thing at all. Buttery, crispy little bites of chocolate heaven!

CHEWY OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COCONUT COOKIES {MY FAVORITE COOKIE}

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt to a food processor or blender and process for about 30 seconds until coarsely blended. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer, add the butter and brown sugars and mix until light in color, 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for another 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the blended dry ingredients and mix once or twice (not all the flour will be fully combined). Add the coconut and chocolate chips and mix until no dry streaks remain.
• Shape the cookie dough into balls (I use a #40 cookie scoop) and place several inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly before removing them from the pan to a wire rack.