Colossal Cookie

Makes 1 (12-inch cookie)

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
¾ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 to 1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces equals about 1 cup)

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large mixer bowl at medium speed, beat butter or margarine, brown sugar and sugar until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. At low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Place dough in refrigerator for 1 ½ hours or in freezer for 45 minutes or until well chilled, but not hard (chilling makes the dough less sticky and helps prevent excessive spreading during baking).

Grease a 12 –inch round foil baking pan. Place dough in center of pan. Press evenly to witing 1 ½ inches of edge of pan. If desired, sprinkle additional ¼ cup chocolate chips on top. Pressing down lightly. For easier handling, place foil pan on baking sheet. (You can also spread into 12 inch round on baking sheet if you don’t have a foil pan.)

Bake in center of a preheated 325 degree oven for 25 to 20 minutes or until edges are firm and no indentation remains in center of cookie when lightly touched. For a softer cookie, bake the minimum time. Place foil baking pan on a wire rack and cool cookie completely.

When cool, remove cookie from pan and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Overwrap with foil to retain freshness. Store in a cool place.

Peanut Butter Cookies

(melt in your mouth) by Bridget Nelson
From the 2001 Desert Wells Ward Cookbook, Good Things to Eat From.

Combine in a large bowl and beat on medium speed until blended:
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2/ cup shortening
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Then add 1 egg.
Beat until blended. Next combine:
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
Add to mixture just until blended.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with fork.
Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown.
Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Yield 4-5 dozen

Old Fashioned Soft Sugar Cookies

Shared by Beverly Jones

3 1/4 C. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Put into large bowl or mixer:
1/2 C. shortening or butter (soft)
1 C. sugar
1 unbeaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Add:
1/2 C. thick sour cream
Add sifted flour mixture, Beat on low speed only until blended, about 1 minute.
Scrape bowl while beating.
Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/4 " thickness. Cut dough, sprinkle with sugar.
Put on cookie sheet.
Bake: 350 degrees or 375 degrees depending how hot your oven gets about 12 minutes. or until golden brown.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen
cookies.

Sure Thing Sugar Cookies

This is the recipe my mom used when I was growing up, we would bake a bunch of heart shaped cookies on Valentine's Day, make plates for our neighbors, and do the RING and RUN delivery. Those were some great memories, I still even have a couple of the Charlie Brown cookie cutters we used.

1 cup shortening
4 cups flour
½ cup milk (start with ¼ cup – watch the texture)
2 tsp Baking soda
2 eggs (start with 1 egg – watch the texture)
1 ½ cups sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp almond extract (best) or 1 tsp vanilla

Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness (can be a bit thicker) and cut into desired shapes Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Decorate or frost as desired.

Favorite Chocoate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is a recipe I found that just needed a little tweaking, now it's one of our favorites, it makes a lot of cookies, so you may want to cut it in 1/2 if you're just baking for your family.

4 cubes butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp salt (1 tsp if using salted butter)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
5 ½ cups white flour
2 cups chocolate chips (more if you like)
2 cups nuts, optional

Place soft butter and sugar in Bosch with cookie paddles (you can make these by hand as well). Whip until creamy, add eggs (only add 2 at first, you may only need another egg white, or the other eggs depending on their size of the eggs and texture of the dough) whip until blended. Add salt and soda with flour. Mix well, add chips and nuts if desired. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 13 minutes, or until light brown. Do not over-bake. Cookies are better slightly undercooked and cooled on cookie sheet to remain soft.

Yield – About 6 dozen (it’s usually a bit more unless you make the cookies rather large).

Variations:
Butter Sugar Cookies – use 4 cups of white sugar, and prepare as otherwise directed (don’t add chocolate chips).

Lemon Cookies – use 4 cups of white sugar, 1 tsp of lemon extract. You can roll the dough in powdered sugar before baking if you’d like.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Oatmeal)

Shared by Calli Tidwell

2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. flour
5 c. blended oatmeal
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
24 oz. choc. Chips

Blend oatmeal; measure and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add chips. Roll into balls and place 2 in. apart. Bake for 6 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies; recipe can be halved.

Snickerdoodles

Shared by Sandie Brummett

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Coating:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together shortening, butter, sugar, and eggs. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in mixture of cinnnamon and sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire cooling rack. Makes approximeately 24 cookies.

Chocolate Chip-Mint Cookies

Shared by Sandie Brummett

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter
½ cup (packed) brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 ½ cups unbleached white flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer at high speed. Beat in egg. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts. Sift together the dry ingredients, and add this to the butter mixture along with the chocolate chips. Stir until well combined. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350. Remove from the sheet immediately after baking, and cool on a rack.