School House Cookies Recipes

SCHOOL CAFETERIA PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat a convection oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). See note for non-convection oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in peanut butter until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic scraper between additions. Add eggs 5 or 6 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl, and mix for a minute. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually mix into the dough until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl one more time, and be sure the bottom has mixed evenly.
• Scoop out dough using an ice cream scoop, or roll into 2 inch balls. Place cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press down lightly with a fork to make a criss-cross pattern.
• Bake for 7 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are lightly toasted. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes so they do not crumble.

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOL CAFETERIA BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Mix in vanilla extract.
• Mix in flour gradually.
• Using a small cookie scoop, roll dough into balls and slightly flatten on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Flatten cookies with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar if desired.
• Bake until golden brown (approximately 12-15 minutes.
• Makes about 2 dozen.

SCHOOL HOUSE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In a large bowl, cream sugar and margarine.
• Add egg, vanilla and salt, beat well.
• In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, wheat germ and oats.
• With a fork, stir dry ingredients into other ingredients, blend well adding a tablespoon or more of water if necessary to hold ingredients together.
• Drop by teaspoonsfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
• Flatten cookies slightly, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

OLD SCHOOL SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a big bowl, combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest, salt and vanilla and mix until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the baking powder, taking care to mix well. Add the eggs and egg yolk and stir well. Add the flours and gently stir until a smooth ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet (or sheets) with parchment paper (no cooking spray).
• On a floured surface, roll out tennis ball-size pieces of dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shapes you want. Lay them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1/4 inch between each cookie.
• Bake for 8 minutes, or until lightly golden. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack, then decorate them however you like with Royal Icing and your favorite sprinkles.
• Using a stand mixer and the whisk attachment, whip most of the powdered sugar with most of the other ingredients. Whip for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the royal icing holds its shape and is bright white (not translucent). If it is too soft, add more powdered sugar. If it is too stiff, add a bit more liquid, drop by drop. If you are using only one color, add a few drops of the color at this point and keep whipping until you have the shade you want; otherwise, proceed to the next step.
• To store royal icing, the ideal way is to scrape it out of the bowl and into a plastic, disposable piping bag, then leave it at room temperature. Don't cut the bag until you're ready to use the royal icing, and don't overfill the bag--you want enough room to tie the back of the bag off to keep the royal icing airtight. If any air comes into contact with the royal icing, it gets hard and that part of the icing is useless. Never attempt to mix the hard bits back into the royal icing--you'll ruin the whole batch. The other accepted method of storing royal icing is to scrape it into a plastic or ceramic bowl, and cover it with a wet paper towel. This method works, but it wastes both paper towels and royal icing. It's also just annoying. When you're piping small designs, you want to use very small parchment piping bags. It's easy to stick the nose of a large piping bag into a smaller one and extract exactly how much you'll need. When the icing is in a bowl, you have to use a spoon to get it out. The spoon is difficult to get into a piping bag, and you'll keep using spoons and wasting royal icing. Get with the times people. Do it right and don't waste food.

SCHOOL HOUSE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Steps:

• Soften the butter 30 minutes to an hour prior to preparation. Place 1 cup of butter in a room temp. environment. Butter should be soft to the touch. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir flour with baking soda and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, place butter and brown sugar. Mix on medium speed for approx. 4 minutes or until mixture has lightend in color. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing at a low speed approx. 2 minutes or until incorporated. Gradually blend flour mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in nuts. Stir in chocolate chips, 3 oz. at a time until all are in. Drop cookie dough onto cookie sheet about the size of half-dollar with an inch separation all around. Bake 9-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool on wire rack.