The Ingredients

It's all about the ingredients…

Although I'm sure there's lots of debate about which ingredients make the best Sugar Cookies.

I believe real butter and PURE vanilla extract are the key ingredients to a good sugar cookie. I would like to say that I always use the finest vanilla, eggs straight from the farm, organic flour… all that fancy stuff. The truth is… I buy the best that I can afford and that is readily available. Occasionally, I'll splurge on a nice bottle of vanilla from a gourmet shop. Sometimes I'll get eggs from an uncle who has chickens. Usually… I go to my local supermarket to get both. Fancy ingredients or basic supermarket ingredients… either way, I'm happy with the taste of my cookies.

Here's my recipe:

3/4 c. butter (1 1/2 sticks)
2/3 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 TBS. milk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour baking powder and salt and beat until mixed well. Chill for at least 3 hours. Roll dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes.

MIlk & Cookies Picnic

Graduation is over. It's hard to believe our girl is all grown up. We are very proud of her. We had her reception at our house. Everything went well and it was great to see all of our family and friends.

Anyway… now that graduation is over and all the cleaning, sprucing, planning and baking (that we did to get ready) is done, life is getting back to "normal" and I finally have time to write a quick blog post again.

I am really, REALLY, enjoying this Memorial Day weekend. A 3-day weekend with nowhere to go & nothing important to do was just what I needed. I don't even have enough ambition to put together a full fledged picnic at the park. Instead, I decided it would fun & easy to pack up some cookies and milk and have a "snack" in the park. I made the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies from a recipe in the March, 2008 issue of Cottage Living. The cookies are just your basic peanut butter cookies. The filling is what makes these cookies delicious. Here's the recipe:

2 (3-ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
5 T. powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients until smooth. Spread about 1 T. of filling onto flat side of cookie and top with another cookie.

Hope everyone else is having a great Memorial weekend too!

Cookies by Candlelight

I'm not much of an environmentalist. The environment (and my effect on it) is just one of about a million things I know I should pay more attention to. However… we did celebrate "Earth Hour". It was a great excuse to make everyone turn everything off and play cards with me. We lit some candles, played some UNO and ate some of my daughter's fresh baked homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was heavenly.

Anyway… since I'm a cookie blogger, not an environmental blogger… let's talk chocolate chip cookies.

I know the New York Times covered this topic way back in July. Chocolate Chip Cookies are old news. But they're a current topic at my house. My daughter has been baking them almost weekly. She makes a big batch, freezes the dough and whenever her friends come over she serves them a batch of fresh baked cookies. She uses the recipe I've carefully developed through the years.

Here's my Recipe:

3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. margarine
1/2 c. shortening
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag of milk chocolate chips

Beat brown sugar, sugar, butter, margarine and shortening until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, blend well. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough. (1-36 hours, whatever fits your schedule). Use a cookie scoop to drop on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 min.

When I was a kid I remember going to a friend's house and spending the whole afternoon playing in the hay loft in their barn. They had a rope tied to the rafters and we'd swing from it and then drop into a big pile of loose hay. Then we made forts and tunnels out of the haybales. When we finally decided to go inside, her mom presented us with a big plate of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. It was such a fun day, and still one of my favorite childhood memories. Maybe that's why I'm such a fan of chocolate chip cookies.