Coconut-Cranberry Chews

Ingredients:
About 1½ cups (¾ lb.) Challenge Butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg
3¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups dried cranberries
1½ cups sweetened flaked dried coconut

Directions:
In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat 1½ cups butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in egg, until well blended.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes (see notes). Mix in cranberries and coconut.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on buttered 12" x 15" baking sheets.

Bake in a 350°F regular or convection oven until cookie edges just begin to brown, 11 to 15 minutes (shorter baking time will yield a chewier cookie; longer baking time will yield a crispier cookie). If baking two sheets at once in one oven, switch their positions halfway through baking.

Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer to racks to cool completely.

Yield: About 6 dozen cookies

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 1 hour

NOTES: The mixture may look dry until it comes together as a dough. If its too crumbly to form into balls, the dough need to be mixed longer; it should be a smooth homogeneous mass.

The Results:

These turned out really good. They are definitely a sweet treat. I would also suggest that they are just barely even be golden brown before you take them out. If you leave them in for long they will just be a a hard cookie. I got the recipe from www.challengediary.com.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3.Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.


The Results:
I made these last night for our family party. They make about 2 dozen. They were simple and yummy! We decorated them with frosting and sprinkles. You should have saw my 3 years old cookie that he decorated. It was sky high with frosting and topped off with sprinkles. He ate it too quick to get a picture of it. I got the recipe from allrecipes and it would have made 60 cookies but I scaled it down to 15 and it made 2 dozen cookies for me. Just enough for not too many leftovers. They were perfect for our fun night. Isn't anything with sugar and then topped with sugar good?

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

The Results:

I made these cookies tonight. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. These cookies were soft and chewy and perfect for a quick cookie. Next time I think I might try using parachment paper because the cookies kind of stuck to the cookie sheet. Really good cookies though and they are SUPER good with a tall glass of milk.

Snickerdoodles

Ok so here is the deal. I think when you start a food blog that you keep making recipes and all the other recipes get pushed to the back of the blog. So I have decided to post the first recipe I blogged about. These are the BEST cookies ever. My mom has the same recipe and I also saw the recipe off of allrecipes. I don't think you can make a snickerdoodle to many ways. You either use all butter, all shortening or half and half. These cookies are literally the best cookies though. Love them!

Ingredients:
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

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees 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.

The Results:

Only change one thing about this recipe and that is ONLY bake your cookies for 7 minutes. 7 1/2 minutes at the most. My cookies look like they aren't done but after I let them sit for about an hour they settle to PERFECTION.

White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups and 1/2 TSP of flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup coconut

Directions:
Put the sugar and brown sugar together and mix. Then add the shortening and mix that all together good. Then add the eggs and mix really good together. (Builds good muscles) Then sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix, Mix, Mix. Then add the vanilla and mix again. Then add the oatmeal and chocolate chips and mix AGAIN. I swear all this mixing makes these the best. :)Bake at 350 for 7 minutes. Until light golden brown. Let them sit on the rack for about a hour before eating. If you eat one before they will seem like they are not done. Just be patient.

The Results:

This is my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe except for milk chocolate chips I added white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of coconut. They were also very good. I'll add macadamia nuts next time.

Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

2 cups and 1/2 TSP of flour (sifted)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup to 1 cup of chocolate chip ( all depends on how many chocolate chips you like.)

Directions:

Put the sugar and brown sugar together and mix. Then add the shortening and mix that all together good. Then add the eggs and mix really good together. (Builds good muscles) Then sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix, Mix, Mix. Then add the vanilla and mix again. Then add the oatmeal and chocolate chips and mix AGAIN. I swear all this mixing makes these the best. :)Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Until light golden brown. Let them sit on the rack for about a hour before eating. If you eat one before they will seem like they are not done. Just be patient.

The Results:

The Best Chocolate Chip cookies. They are always chewy and never let me down. I have made these cookies since I was probably 8 years old. I was well known around the neighborhood for these cookies. I was also the only one that could make them ever turn out. The trick is to only leave them in for 8-10 minutes and take them out even though they don't look that done. They will be done after they sit for about a hour. YUMMY!

Toffee Crunch Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup real butter, softened

1 Cup brown sugar, light

1 Cup white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 Cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 10 oz bag toffee candy bits (I used the Heath brand that was chocolate covered)

1 Cup chocolate chips
1 Cup oatmeal

1 Cup sweetened flake coconut

1 Cup chopped almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat the eggs slightly then add to butter mixture and mix well. Sift flour, salt and baking soda; then add slowly to the moist ingredients and mix well. Mix in toffee bits, chocolate chips, oatmeal, coconut and nuts until just combined.

2. Drop dough by the teaspoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are just golden brown.

The Results:
These were good. They were really good with a tall cup of milk. My husband loved them.

* I got the recipe off of http://pickypalate.blogspot.com/search/label/cookies

* I didn't put the almonds in and some people suggested using parchment paper (not wax paper) underneath the cookies because they kinda stick to the cookie sheet a little.