I need cookie recipes!

Egg, sugar and peanut butter for the best peanut butter cookies ever.

No, not really. When that combination is mixed and heated, it bursts into flames, not delicious cookies. Don’t try it.

Great. Thanks so much for answering then :P

My mom has a recipe for spiced ginger cookies that always gets rave reviews. The one year she tried something different, everyone asked her why she didn’t bring her ginger cookies! I don’t have the recipe on hand, I’ll have to get it from her once she’s back from the weekend. They’re very easy to make in bulk (no fanciness, similar to peanut butter cookie shaping) and are quite delicious.

The New York Times updated version of chocolate chip cookies are AMAZING.
Look in the Dining In Section from July 9, 2008 for complete instructions.

Those are the one that the dough is left in the fridge for a long time, right? I have yet to make those but I think I’ll start it today! Someone found a way to speed the recipe up by vacuum sealing the bag of dough.

Poof, how about a brownie recipe? I have a Maida Heatter one I have made for years that is amazing. It has a layer of traditional brownie topped with a pot de creme-like layer, flavored with espresso, soooooo good! I looked for a place to cut and paste online to no avail. If you want a brownie recipe I will type it out for you.

Last year, I did what you’re doing, for my coworkers. I made these, decorated them, and gave everyone one of each. They were absolutely a hit and got rave reviews all around. There was even scheming to steal absent coworkers’ cookies.

I loved the citrus cookies and have made them again since. The gingerbread cookies weren’t spiced enough for my liking, but the coworkers who said they love gingerbread really loved those cookies. So maybe taste and see if the spicing needs adjustment.

There’s no better chocolate chip cookies than the original Toll House recipe on the Nestle’s package. The secret is to have your shortening (butter) at room temperature, not too soft, and to drop the cookies in rounded lumps onto the sheet and never press them down. That way you get firm, rounded edges that bake evenly and do not come out crisp and burnt. I usually set the shortening out in a bowl the night before, and it is just right when it comes to baking time.

Here are delicious oatmeal cookies that melt in your mouth and disappear very fast from the cookie tin or platter (if not from the cooling rack). Same tip: room-temperature shortening, rounded lumps.

You can make them with only butter or only margarine, but I prefer the combination for the baking properties of butter and the somewhat reduced richness.

If using fresh walnuts, buy a few extra in case some are bad.

OATMEAL COOKIES

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
½ cup (1 stick) margarine, softened to room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed down
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 scant tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
½ cup chopped walnuts (about 12 whole walnuts) (optional)
3 cups oatmeal

1. Heat oven to 350◦.
2. In large bowl, cream butter, margarine, and white and brown sugar.
3. Beat eggs.
4. Add eggs and vanilla to mixture and beat well.
5. Add flour, salt, and baking soda, sifted together.
6. Add chopped nuts.
7. Add oatmeal.
8. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Drops should be about walnut size and spaced apart. Do not press flat.
9. Bake about 10 minutes, until golden brown and center is firm.
10. Remove to cooling rack.

You can add raisins, chocolate or butterscotch bits, other kinds of nuts, etc., if desired.

Yield: ~100. These cookies freeze well.

The New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe (ref above July 9, 2008 article on Ruth Graves Wakefield and the Toll House Inn) is an update of the original Toll House recipe with several important insights: let the dough rest refrigerated for 36 hours before baking, make the cookie at least 6” in diameter, use really good chocolate (at least 60 percent cacao), and sprinkle sea salt on top right after they come out of the oven.

@dynamicduo – yes, letting the dough sit before baking makes a remarkable difference

Amish Friendship Bread is delicious and interesting to boot. Give a loaf of the bread and a ‘starter’ batch with the story, recipe and directions to your recipients.

I’ll post some on my blog tomorrow if you want. I have a whole slew of Christmas cookie recipes I could post after church.

@jeanm: Sea salt?!

Alright, this thread needs some links :) The NY Times Original Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, photo blog of someone making the recipe. The sea salt is put on the dough, not the final cooked cookie. I imagine the purpose is to suck out a wee bit of the water from the dough and make the top just a bit more moist, helping to protect them from being too browned by the oven, but that’s just my guess.

Cooksalot, I’d love to see some of your recipes, be sure to share a link here for us :)

@dynamicduo: Thank you! For the links and the sea salt clarification. If I hadn’t been given some fancy chocolate caramels with salt on top I wouldn’t have believed that combining salt and chocolate could produce such a delicious taste.

Ok, @poof the recipes are on the blog

wow. Nobody told me how expensive nuts are!! I may have to seriously rethink this plan, as my two favorite cookies have 2 cups of pecans involved. One tiny little bag of store brand pecans was almost $4. I almost died!

Poof, can you get pecans at Costco or better yet Trader Joes? Way more for your money.
The salty/sweet thing is amazing. I made a package (horrors!) caramel brownie mix the other day and sprinkled fleur de sel on them. They were off the hook!

Also at this time of year you can get them in the shell. You have to shell them yourself but it still works out much cheaper.

Try hitting up a bulk store and see if they offer cheaper prices, though with it being prime nut season nowadays the store deals might end up being on par.

I’ll have to find a TJ. UGH. Stupid nuts. lol

i’m all for buying cookie mix and adding to it (nuts, cranberries, etc).

I just saw a Walmart ad that featured a 1 pound bag of chopped pecans for around $5.80. Maybe try there?

I added a few more recipes and some non-cookie recipes. Enjoy!

here’s some ideas – what i was referring to before:
oatmeal cookie mix – add choc chips and nuts, or just the chips
chocolate cookie mix – add peanut butter chips
sugar cookie mix – add pistachios, chopped and dried cranberries (red and green – great holiday colors)
or sugar cookie mix – add coconut and macadamia nuts, chopped