Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the BEST chocolate chip cookie I have ever made or tried. You can mix it up by changing the pudding flavor and the chips flavor. I also love making these with peanut butter chips and butterscotch pudding. They are very moist and almost melt in your mouth. The pudding is the key for this recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies:
courtesy of allrecipes.com

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 3.5 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies

I was e-mailed this basic recipe from myrecipes.com today. I needed a cookie recipe to make for my husband's lunch and he loves peanut butter, so this was perfect timing. Believe it or not, my store was out of peanuts on Sunday, so I decided to substitute peanut butter chips for the peanuts. I just finished eating one of these straight out of the oven and, boy, it did not hurt the recipe at all. They have a very distinct peanut butter flavor without being completely overpowering. They are sweet, so I think I could only eat one at a time. I will be hanging on to this recipe.

Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies:

adapted from Southern Living Food, July 2009

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together first four ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Stir in peanut butter chips and vanilla. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2" apart on lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on pan on a wire rack five minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack and cool five minutes. Serve warm or cool completely.

Yield: 14 cookies

Giant Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Giant Peanut Butter Cup Cookies:

courtesy of Cooking for Kids

1 stick butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

16 peanut butter cups, cut into fourths

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter, sugar and peanut butter in medium bowl until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture; blend well. Drop dough by level 1/4 cup measurements onto ungreased cookie sheets; three cookies per sheet. (Cookies will spread while baking.) Push about seven pieces of peanut butter cup into each cookie, flattening cookies slightly. (I mixed the candy pieces into the dough)

Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Centers will be pale and slightly soft. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet. Remove to wire rack; cool completely.

Brownie Cookie Bites

Brownie Cookie Bites:

courtesy of Cooking for Kids

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1 Tbsp. butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 large egg

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips and butter over hot (not boiling) water, stirring until smooth. (I melted mine in the microwave) Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

Beat egg and sugar in large mixer bowl at high speed about 3 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Stir in vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture. Gradually blend in flour mixture. Stir in remaining 1 cup chocolate chips. Drop by level tablespoon onto greased baking sheets.

Baked in preheated 350 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are puffed and tops are cracked and moist (cookies will look slightly underbaked) Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Apricot Bars

I was in the mood to bake something today, and since I can't have chocolate, I wanted to find something that I could eat for a change too. I had some apricot preserves in my fridge that needed used up, so I went on a search. I found this recipe for Apricot Bars on allrecipes.com and it sounded perfect. Some of us don't like nuts, so I only put them on half the batch. Enjoy!

Apricot Bars:
courtesy of allrecipes.com

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup butter

2 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup apricot preserves

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream flour, butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Press into a 9x13 inch pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. Take out and spread preserves evenly, then sprinkle with nuts. Score into bars, but leave in pan.

Return to oven at 250 degrees for up to 15 minutes. Cool on rack.

Peanut Butter Kisses

Peanut Butter Kisses:
from allrecipes.com

1 cup white sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

18 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar, peanut butter and egg. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Note: If dough is too sticky, refrigerate 1/2 hour or until easy to handle.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from the oven. Press a chocolate kiss into the center of each warm cookie.

Jam Filled Butter Cookies

I absolutely adore apricot flavored anything. Couple that with not being able to have chocolate and this became the perfect Christmas cookie for me this year! These are melt in your mouth and so scrumptious. I also made strawberry jam cookies, but I much preferred the apricot.

Jam Filled Butter Cookies:
from allrecipes.com

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with 1/2 tsp. of preserves.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles:

Courtesy of Joy of Cooking

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line 2 cookies sheets. Whisk until well blended:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Beat in a large bowl:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

Add and beat until well combined:

2 large eggs

Stir in the flour mixture. Combine:

1/4 cup sugar

4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls, roll in the cinnamon sugar, and arrange about 2 3/4 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.

These were okay. They turned out more crisp than I wanted. They also made very large cookies.

Baker's Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

These were pretty good, except mine were awfully flat when they cooled. Everyone enjoyed them though.

Baker's Coconut Oatmeal Cookies:

from cooks.com

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup quick rolled oats

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups coconut

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda together. Cream butter; add sugars gradually. Cream until fluffy and add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add flour mixture, gradually beating until smooth after each addition. Mix in oats and coconut. Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown. Yields: 5 dozen

Double Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I apologize for the bad picture, but these cookies were so amazing!! I made some for myself with just peanut butter chips (I can't have chocolate) and they were awesome too! I guess you can't go wrong with any Hershey recipe.

Double Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies:

from Hersheys.com

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup Reese's Creamy Peanut Butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips (I used semi-sweet)

1 cup Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat butter, sugar and peanut butter in medium bowl until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture, blending well. Stir in milk chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. (Mine took 12 minutes) Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet. Remove to wire rack and cool completely. About 3 dozen cookies.