Let us play Betty Crocker

This week I'm a tad consumed with finding sweet and satisfying cookie recipes. If it's not bread, it's baked goods - I have a problem!

 It's nice to see I may have gotten a small fragment of the baker's gene my mother has, after years of watching her bake and refusing to participate.  Mind you, I had no problem consuming her home baked marvels - oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter candy, pumpkin bread, cakes, warm banana bread cooling on wire racks, the smells of my childhood.  Perhaps it was my independence (aka stubbornness, a gene that has never needed encouraging, always present, rearing its sometimes ugly head) that kept me from her kitchen, yearning for a kitchen of its own.  What I do know is that I think of her now with each cup of sugar measured, each egg that is cracked, bowl licked, and teaspoon of vanilla poured.  As my own little ones clamor about in search of foot stools, so that they can assist, I think of her.  Her kitchen was busy, the hub and heart of our home.  I remember it well, for I was always nearby my head in a book, or running through it planning my next big idea or project.  But, I was watching, waiting, smelling, and biding my time until the moment I could savor another of her homemade treats.

I wonder how my little ones will remember me years from now.

(ah yes...the other repositioned lamp)

Three cookie recipes tweaked and tested by yours truly, and sampled by four Larson palates. 

The Favorite

Grandma's (not mine, but hers) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (I increased to 1 full teaspoon after the husband commented on yesterday's baked cookie [see third recipe], asking "Remember the cookies you used to make with salt?"  to which I replied, "Kind doctor, these have salt in them.")

1/3 cup shortening

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla (Big fan of Penzy's Vanilla Extract)

1/2 cup nuts, chopped

1/2 cup coconut (Do not omit this fluffy white ingredient.)

1 cup chocolate chips (I used half milk and half semi-sweet just for kicks.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

 In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and the sugars until light.  Add the egg and vanilla, the beat to combine.  Add the dry ingredients in halves, then fold in the nuts, coconut and chocolate chips.  Scoop onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake 12-15 minutes. 

Cool on a wire rack a mere moment before consuming, but do treat yourself to a warm cookie, or two. 

The Healthy (?) Choice

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened (I use unsalted butter, but perhaps I ought to be using salted butter with the husband's sodium chloride sensitivity.)

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Penzy's if you got it)

1/4 teaspoon salt (bumped that up to 1 full teaspoon)

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup raisins (or chocolate chips if your children have consumed all the raisins in your kitchen)

1/2 cup, chopped walnuts (optional, but if chopped super fine add a lovely texture to the cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together.  Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture.  Stir in the oats, raisins/ chocolate chips, and walnuts if using them.  (I also think Craisins and white chocolate chips would be a welcomed alternative.)

You can either chill the dough for a few minutes, or scoop the mixture unto parchment lined trays two inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, taking them out when golden at the edges.  Allow to cool before transferring to a wire rack. 

The Good, but does not live up to the name (in my opinion), Choice

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

from The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (Apparently, not enough.)

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well.  Add eggs and vanilla, beating well.

Combine flour, soda, and salt; add to butter mixture, mixing well.  Stir in chocolate morsels.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool slightly.

*****

Lessons learned from baking:

- Our family enjoys salty desserts.

- Shortening adds a velvety consistency to the batter, resulting in a flavorful melt-in-your-mouth cookie.

- Baking cookies perfectly fills a two-hour window while your oldest child is at school.

- I cannot resist a warm cookie, or two...or three. Oy.

- We will need to make more friends in Cleveland if I am to continue this delightful hobby.

- My mother is one of the best bakers I know, and I miss the warm and inviting smells of her kitchen.