Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies...The Best Ever!!!

I recently saw this recipe on Peachtree Cooking, where the poster said that while eating these cookies she had the rare experience of thinking, "These are the best cookies I've ever had!" After reading that, and the list of ingredients, I knew I had to give them a try. I made them to share with my class at church today so I doubled the recipe. This was a terrible idea because now I have so many left at home and I cannot stop eating them! They are sooo delicious! Definitely the best cookies I have ever made!!!
Here is another tip from the original post...
i didn't want to make giant cookies like it calls for so i made them smaller and adjusted the time. but i also learned that you can't do them too small either. they don't spread out very much so be generous in their size. also they taste better when they're a little bigger rather then little bite size cookies.

Ingredients:       
2 sticks ‘cold and cubed’ good quality unsalted butter·
3/4 cup granulated sugar·
3/4 cup brown sugar – not packed too hard. Just spoon it in the cup(s) and press down lightly when full, sweeping off any extra that runs over.·
2 eggs (room temperature)·
3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups All Purpose flour – Spoon and Sweep method. (feel the dough, it should be moist, kind of like cold cookie dough in a tube . . . but not super sticky, so you can portion the cookies with your hands)·
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt·
3/4-1 teaspoon baking powder ( I don’t fill the tsp fully, hence the 3/4 tsp)·
1/4 tsp baking soda·
1 T cornstarch·
1 cup Guittard brand milk chocolate chips·(I found these at HEB)
1 cup Guittard brand semisweet chocolate chips ·
1 cup walnuts (Toast the nuts for more flavor, if desired and/or use any kind of nut you like.)- i usually don't like nuts in my desserts but they add an amazing flavor and there are already enough chunks that it doesn't ruin the texture either. add them!!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch. Add slowly to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Gently fold in chocolate chips and nuts
5. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions, **about 4 oz each.
6. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 16-23 minutes depending on how gooey and raw’ish you like the middle. Bake until lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat, in an airtight container. To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. (I made normal sized cookies and baked 12 min)

Soft Sugar Cookie Bars with Buttercream Frosting

I wasn't sure what to make for our Valentine's treats to pass out to friends this year, but I did know life has been extra crazy so we needed to keep it simple. Then I saw these guys on Cassie Craves and knew they would be perfect. What I didn't know is just how absolutely AMAZING they would really be. They are completely addictive so be sure you are sharing them with someone!!! (I doubled the dough recipe but still had enough frosting from one batch to frost them both) I think I may be making these for every holiday from now on :-)!

INGREDIENTS:
For the bars:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
For the frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a jelly roll pan (15 x 10 x 1) (I used a regular baking pan so mine were a little thicker) with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
2. In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
3. With mixer on low, add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until just combined.
4. Press dough evenly into your prepared pan. The dough will be sticky. (it's very sticky, I put my hand in a baggie and sprayed it with some cooking spray to push it into the pan)
5. Bake for 20 minutes until edges begin to golden. Cool completely before frosting.
6. To make the frosting, cream together the butter and vanilla. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar and the pinch of salt. Once smooth and creamy, add in heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat at medium-high speed for a minute or two until light and fluffy. If desired, add food coloring and beat until combined.

Thankful Cookies

My oldest, Ella, spotted this recipe in the November issue of The Friend and couldn't wait to make them. They ended up being a great activity with minimal clean-up which I loved. We used chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and marshmallows for the filling and were only sad that we didn't have more pie crusts to make even more!

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
flour
1 package uncooked piecrust
sugar
Choose any of the following filling ingredients:
chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut-butter chips, mini marshmallows, canned raspberry or cherry pie filling

Directions:
1. Wash your hands with soap and water.
2. Heat the oven to 375ºF.
3. Beat egg and water together in a small bowl.
4. Sprinkle a little flour on work surface. Spread out piecrust, and use a rolling pin to flatten it until it is about 1/8 inch thick.
5. Use any large cookie cutter to cut as many shapes as possible.
6. Spread 3–4 tablespoons of chips or pie filling on half of the cut shapes. Leave 1/2 inch around the edges uncovered.
7. Brush the edges of the shapes with egg mixture. Place a second shape on top, and press the edges together to seal.
8. Brush the tops of each filled cookie with egg mixture. Sprinkle the cookies with sugar.
9. Use a spatula to move the cookies to a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes. Let cookies cool for several minutes before moving them.

Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies

I was looking for a fun, easy treat to make with the kids and saw these on Our Recipe Box. They were seriously THE easiest cookies ever! The kids loved helping me roll the dough into balls and of course really loved eating them. I want to try this trick with some other cake mix flavors!

Ingredients:
1 box Funfetti Cake Mix (18 oz)
1/3 c. oil
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Stir until thoroughly moistened. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. With the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness.
Bake for 6-8 minutes until edges are light golden brown. Cool one minute then move to cooking rack.

Chilled Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

I saw these yummy guys in All You magazine quite awhile ago, but the kids and I just got around to giving them a try. They were a big hit! They were easy to make, gluten-free, and surprisingly delicious! We will definitely be making them again and again!

Ingredients:
* 2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
* 1/4 cup honey
* 1/4 cup light corn syrup
* 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
* 1/4 cup chocolate chips
* 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
* 3 cups corn flakes, lightly crushed

Directions:
* 1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Place a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add coconut and toast, stirring constantly, until light golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; let cool.
* 2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine honey, corn syrup and peanut butter. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring, then remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and cocoa.
* 3. Continue stirring until chocolate chips have melted, then stir in cereal and toasted coconut until well coated. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes.

Snickerdoodles

I have tried snickerdoodles, but I have never made my own, so when a volunteer was needed to make some for my book club meeting came up last week I thought it was a perfect opportunity to give them a try! I went to a blog that is known for yummy desserts but quite a few of the reviews of her snickerdoodles said they were spreading too thin when baking. Since baking is not my specialty I decided not to risk and went to allrecipes.com instead. This recipe from Beth Sigworth had awesome reviews (I did tweak it a bit after reading through some comments)! I was so proud that they turned out so beautiful...AND tasted awesome too! They were a hit!
(now I need to attempt a gluten-free version!)

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 (make sure it is fresh!)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons white sugar
* 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 390 degrees F.
2. 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.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 minutes (you don't want to over-bake), or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

(Valentine) Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I saw these in All You magazine and they were too cute to resist! In the magazine they were circles, but we used a small heart cookie cutter to make them even more festive. My dough was pretty crumbly, but they turned out still thank goodness and got rave reviews from everyone who tried them!

Ingredients
* COOKIES:
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 15 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes
* FILLING:
* 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
* Pinch of salt
* 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
* Red food coloring

Directiones:
1. Make cookies: Arrange racks on bottom and top thirds of oven; preheat to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment. In a bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gradually add butter; slowly increase mixer speed to medium. Mixture will look crumbly at first, but continue mixing for about 8 minutes and it will come together in large clumps.(mine never came together in large clumps so I dumped it on the counter and smooshed it all together...it worked)
2. Transfer dough to a well-floured work surface and knead briefly, then press into a small rectangle. Cut dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cutter, cut circles. Gather up scraps, reroll and cut as many cookies as possible. Transfer them to baking sheets.
3. Bake cookies for 6 minutes, then rotate pans (top to bottom and front to back) and bake 6 minutes longer. Remove baking sheets from oven and place on wire racks for a few minutes to cool before transferring cookies to racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Make filling: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add salt and confectioners' sugar.(I added a little bit of milk to help it cream together) Add food coloring, drop by drop, until filling takes on desired pink hue. Transfer filling to a pastry bag. Pipe filling onto half the cookies, then sandwich them together with remaining cookies.

Brownie Covered Oreos

My mom actually made these and then shared some with us, but they were SOOO good and festive I had to share them! She found the recipe on Picky Palate...You HAVE to try them!

Ingredients:
1 Brownie mix (or use your own brownie recipe)
1 package Oreos, I used the Holiday ones
White chocolate, melted for drizzle, or Wilton White frosting pen works great
White nonpariels Sprinkles

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare brownie batter according to package directions. Leave in mixing bowl. Dip Oreos in brownie batter then place in bottom of cupcake tins that have been generously sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until brownies are cooked through (doesn’t take long). As soon as you remove, take a plastic knife and run along edges, (this is VERY important so you get the cookie out with brownies not stuck to pan :)
2. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove drizzle with melted white chocolate or the Wilton White icing pen, sprinkle with nonpariels and EAT! Enjoy :)
Makes entire package of Oreos

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I needed to make some chocolate chip cookies for a lesson I was teaching at church on Sunday and wanted to try a new recipe so I did a search for the best chocolate chip cookies, of course. After looking at a few different recipes I decided to try these ones from Savory Sweet Life. They were a hit with everyone who tried them and super easy to make!

Makes approx. 45-48 cookies using a sm-med 2tbl. cookie scoop
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
1 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt *please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie. If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips *I realized grocery stores sell bags of chocolate chips in 12 oz bags but this recipe really needs every last chip. Otherwise you’ll get cookies with only a few chips in each one and this recipe requires lots of chocolate to bulk the cookie up. You’ll need about 1 1/2 bags.

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

*Troubleshooting*
-If you’re cookies are coming out flat and not like the pictures there are probably 3 reasons for this.
#1) Baking powder and Baking soda is old. If your baking powder and soda is older than 1 year and has not been in a sealed (preferably air tight) container, it has lost some of it rising qualities.
#2) Creaming. It is not enough to just cream the butter and sugars until it has come together. This recipe requires you to beat it with a mixer for 3 minutes until the texture of the butter and sugar turns to light and fluffy-just like the picture.
#3) Flour. Flour should be weighed. This can make or break the recipe because just scooping flour into a measuring cup will never yield ideal or consistent results.

Flourless Peanut-Chocolate Cookies

This Martha Stuart recipe was passed on to me by Amber (of Zanie Zoo). You would never know that there is no flour in these babies! They are almost as easy as my other gluten-free PB cookies, but so much better! Definitely try them :-)!

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I doubled it and used 1 c creamy and 1 c crunchy)
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds.
In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 large egg (lightly beaten), 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until well combined. Stir in 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts.
With moistened hands, roll dough, about 1 heaping tablespoon at a time, into balls. Place 2 inches apart on two baking sheets.
Bake until cookies are golden and puffed, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through.
Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

PB&B Cloud Cookies

I couldn't resist trying these cookies out when I saw them in an old Rachael Ray magazine...peanut butter, bananas...AND gluten-free :-)! I couldn't stop eating them, so it was a good thing it didn't make tons! I'll definitely make them again, they were easy, tasty and pretty too!

Ingredients:
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 cup creamy peanut butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons mashed ripe banana
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped

Directions:
1.Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with 1/8 teaspoon salt at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Gradually mix in 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar and beat until thick and glossy, about 2 minutes. Fold in the peanut butter until just blended.
2.Using a 1-inch ice cream scoop, place 16 mounds of the cookie mixture evenly on each prepared cookie sheet. Bake, switching and rotating the sheets halfway, until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool slightly on the sheets, then, using a metal spatula, transfer to a rack to cool completely.
3.Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the remaining 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the banana and lemon juice.
4.Spread the banana frosting on the cooled cookies and sprinkle the peanuts on top.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This yummy recipe comes from Joy The Baker, which I heard about through Sarah. I doubled the recipe, using 1 c mini-chocolate chips and 1 c regular ones. They are DELISH! We shared these and the pumpkin bars with our librarians and they both got rave reviews :-)!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I didn't have this and they still were great!)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips, or any chip you like

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart. You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a scoop. Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes. Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool cimpletely.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar. (I ran out of powdered sugar making the frosting for the bars, but I want to try them again with the sugar on top!)

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Icing

We never got around to making our sugar cookies at Christmas time so we made them for Valentine's Day instead. As much as I despise the mess and amount of work involved, Ella thinks it is THE best thing ever...so I'm sure we'll do it again :-). They are delicious though!

Cookies
Ingredients:
-1 c. shortening
-2 c. sugar
-4 eggs, beaten
-1 t. vanilla
-4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (I add quite a bit when rolling the dough out)
-1/2 t. salt
-4 t. baking powder
-2 T. milk

Directions:
-Cream shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Combine in a separate bowl flour, salt, and baking powder.
-Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. May need to add 2 T. milk to bled dough together.
-Put additional flour on counter before rolling dough. Lightly wet the roller and sprinkle flour on roller to avoid dough sticking to it. (in my experience the dough is quite sticky, so like I mentioned I do end up adding handfuls of flour here and there to work with it)
-Roll dough about 1/4 inch thick on counter. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Place the cut shapes carefully with spatula onto cookie sheet.
-Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees 10 minutes. (makes about 6 dozen)
Icing
Ingredients:
-1/2 c. shortening
-1/2 c. butter
-1 1/2 t. vanilla
-5 c. powdered sugar
-3 T. milk

Directions:
-Cream shortening and butter with mixer. Add vanilla. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time to mixture.
-Icing will be dry, may need to add up to 3 T. milk (1 T. at a time) beating at med speed. Cover icing until ready to decorate.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Thanks to Annemarie (Taste Buds) for this festive cookie idea :-). The girls and I made up some little plates for the librarians at our library last night and they turned out so cute. I'm not a baker, so the fact that they turned out presentable was definitely a success :-)!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter; room temp
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg; room temp
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Hershey Kisses

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and peanut butter. Mix in both sugars, vanilla and egg. Combine dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add to peanut butter mixture & mix just until combined. Roll dough into 1" balls, roll in granulated sugar and place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 min. Remove from oven and immediately press Hershey Kiss into center of cookie (I put mine in the fridge while the cookies are baking).

EASY Peanut Butter Cookies

I found this great, AND gluten-free, cookie recipe in this month's Parents magazine! I figured with only 3 ingredients (4 ingredients if you add chocolate chips like us), even I could probably manage these without messing them up :-)! They were easy and delicious...even Mike liked them and he is quite the cookie expert.

Ingredients:
- 1 c. peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
- 1 c. sugar, plus more for rolling
- 1 egg
(we doubled it and had about 24 cookies)
- chocolate chips, if desired

Directions:
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together peanut butter, sugar, and egg in large mixing bowl.
- Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Put some sugar on a plate and roll balls in it to coat. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Press each ball down with a fork to make a crisscross design. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies just start to brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies

Thank you Grandma for thinking of me when you saw this recipe in the Houston Chronicle! Although I enjoy cooking, I am not the greatest "baker" and I like to blame it on the fact that most baked goods include flour as an ingredient. I'll type the directions as printed in the paper, but I had to make do with what I had (a normal mixing attachment, aluminum foil and 1 baking sheet). This is the only cookie that turned out "pretty" but they all tasted great and that's what counts, right?!

Ingredients:
-1/2 c. plus 3 T. Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 3 c. confectioners' sugar (I had to call my mom and see if that meant powdered or regular sugar :-)...it's powdered)
- pinch salt
- 2 3/4 c. walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
- 4 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 T. vanilla extract

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Combine the cocoa, sugar, salt and walnuts in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly add the egg whites and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes, until the mixture has thickened slightly. Do not overmix.
- With a 2-ounce cookie or ice cream scoop, or a generous tablespoon, scoop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, to make cookies that are 4 in. in diameter. Space the cookies widely.
- Put the cookies in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 320 degrees. Bake about 15 minutes, or until small, thin cracks appear on the surface. Switch the pan halfway through baking. Pull the parchment paper with the cookies onto a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before removing cookies from the paper.

Kirk's No-Bake Fudgies

I am once again stealing a dessert recipe from my mom . I definitely remember referring to these cookies as "poop" cookies growing up :-)!

Ingredients:
1 cube butter - melted
2 cups sugar
milk
3 heaping T. cocoa
peanut butter
vanilla
quick cooking oaks
raisins
coconut

Directions:
Melt 1 cube butter, 2 cups sugar and 3 T. of cocoa. Add 1/2 cup
milk and mix.Cook to good rolling boil and remove immediately.
Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1 t. vanilla. Mix well,then add
3 cups quick cooking oats, 1 rounded cup raisins, 1 cup coconut.
Mix and drop spoonfuls on wax paper to set.

Mom's Notes:
I always simmer the raisins in a little water to make
them little more plump. I also add a little extra
peanut butter. We keep our cookies in the refrigerator
in a Tupperware with wax paper between the layers.

Reece's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

So, I decided I needed to put at least one dessert up. In our house that is really Mike's specialty since ice cream and candy are my treats of choice, so I'll have to post some of his recipes. These are one of my mom's trademarks and are
TO DIE FOR!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:
Mix Together: 2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Cups White Sugar
1 lb. butter (1/2 hr. at room temp.)
4 Eggs
2 Tablespoons Vanilla
Add to Mixture: 6 Cups Flour (scraped across top)
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
Add: 3 Cups Chocolate Chips

Scoop the dough into greased mini-muffin tins and bake 350 degrees, 10-13 minutes, until golden brown. After baking, immediately place a Mini Reeces Peanut Butter Cup in the middle of each cookie. Let them cool for 5 - 10 minutes and carefully removed with a butter knife. Place on a cookie rack to cool completely.