Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles

Source: AllRecipes.com
Time: 1 hr
Yield: 3 doz.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Melanie's Famous Chocolate Chip Shortbread Logs

Source: The Famous Melanie

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups mini chocolate chips or 12 ounces finely chopped chocolate
1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup finely chopped, toasted nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar until smooth, add vanilla and continue to mix until combined. Incorporate flour and half of the chocolate. Roll dough out into logs that are 1/2" wide and 2" long, place on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Cook for 10-13 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet as shortbread can be brittle.

Melt remaining chocolate with shortening over a double boiler. Dip one end of each cookie into the melted chocolate and then roll in nuts. Place on waxed paper to set.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: About 36 Cookies
Source: Allrecipes.com

This is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, it's the only one I ever use. I'll make them with chopped pecans and dark chocolate chips for me, or leave out the nuts and use milk-chocolate chips when making them for The Kid. The baking soda and hot water thing sounds weird, I know, but it gives the finished cookies this almost shiny outer shell with crispy edges and a chewy center. I'm Queen of the barely cooked cookie and these are perfect. They will keep for a couple of days in a sealed container (anything with real butter starts to taste odd to me by about day 3) or months in the freezer. I actually prefer them straight out of the freezer.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips (your choice)
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice or not at all)

Preheat your oven to 350° and grease two cookie sheets.

Cream the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water (out of the tap is fine), add to the batter along with salt.

Add the flour, one cup at a time. When the flour is fully incorporated, add the chocolate chips and the nuts.

Use a No. 40 disher (about 1.5 Tbs) to scoop the dough out onto your baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between each one. Bake for 11-12 minutes in preheated oven, or until the edges are light brown. If you're cooking two sheets at once, rotate them halfway through and give them an extra minute of cooking time.

Oatmeal Pecan Scotchies

Yield: About 3 dozen cookies

This was adapted from a recipe I found online years ago for Mrs. Fields Pecan Supremes. These are really good, whenever I make them people ask me for the recipe. My brother-in-law always asks me to make these for his birthday and I made them so many times one winter that by Christmas, I had the recipe memorized. And you should know that I am a big fan of the barely cooked cookie so this time and temperature will give you a soft, chewy center.

2 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Quick Cooking Oats
3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, Packed
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Stick of Butter
2 Large Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
1 Cup Butterscotch Chips*

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and quick oats. Mix well and set aside. In a large bowl blend sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed. Add the butter to the sugar and mix to form a grainy paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture. Once fully incorporated, add pecans and butterscotch chips. Blend at low speed until combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes and allow cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

*I hate to have stuff like this hanging out open in the freezer so I always just throw in the whole bag. And for what it's worth, I prefer the Hershey's brand.

Ginger Spiced Molasses Cookies

Yield: About 3 dozen cookies
Source: Food52.com

I'm pretty generous with my spices, I like these cookies to have big flavor. The spice measurements shown here are just a starting point, I'll typically use a heaping measure (rather than a leveled-off measure) These also make fantastic ice cream sandwich components, try them with homemade cinnamon or maple ice cream.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature*
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1/3 cup finely diced candied ginger
granulated sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease your baking sheets.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves and salt. Mix well.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and molasses, mix to combine.

Stir in dry ingredients and candied ginger. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour.

Roll dough in 1 1/2" balls. Roll balled dough in granulated sugar and then place onto prepared baking sheets and flatten gently. Bake for 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until the center is set and top is crinkled. Cool on wire racks.

*As I'm sure you know 3/4 cup butter is 1 1/2 sticks. Well, I'm occasionally a moron and instead used 3/4 stick of butter, or 6 tablespoons. I actually have a long history of accidentally shorting the butter in this way and then deciding I prefer the results. I've only made this recipe once, with half the required butter, and the cookies came out beautifully. I can't decide if I even want to mess with doing it the right way.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Sugar Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Last Christmas I was really feeling the need for chocolate covered cherries. That lead to attempting to recreate them in cookie form, as I'm not about to make anything as convoluted as chocolate covered cherries are sure to be. And, let's face it, unless you're dropping some serious dough, the store-bought ones — while tasty — are chock full of scary candy chemistry that will put you off sugar for life. (Thank you very much Marc Summers and Unwrapped, you've ruined so many treats for me...)

1 cup Butter, softened
3/4 cup + 1/2 cup Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 t Almond Extract
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 t Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg, fresh if you've got it
6 oz Dried Cherries, chopped
1 cup Slivered Almonds
6 oz Chocolate Chips, I prefer the Hershey's Special Dark Chips
2 tsp Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and almond extracts. In another bowl combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Mix in dried cherries and almonds.

Roll round teaspoonfuls of dough in the remaining sugar and bake 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Carefully melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or a double-boiler. Once smooth, thin with 2 t vegetable oil. Put paper towels or newspaper under your cooling racks and drizzle cookies with melted chocolate. Allow to set before storing.

Adapted from Soft Sugar Cookies at AllRecipes.com