Fa La La La, Chocolate!

With our traditional 70 degree
December weather around here,
we've about given up on
ever having a white Christmas.
Putting up Christmas decor and sweating?! 
That's Texas for ya.
However, if you wanna have
a 'snow' covered kitchen,
get the kids involved in making these...
our most favorite-est cookies EVER.

CHOCOLATE CRINKLES

Don't be fooled though.
You may think Martha Stewart
invented these - but these cookies

have been around for a very long time.
Even way back into my childhood.
Taking these to a family event
when we were younger was like
arriving with the Queen mother!
Ooh, aahhh.
You will become a celebrity
if you bring these to a festivity.
Well, maybe.

My big sis was always the one
in our family that was/is the 'go-to'

girl for making these.

She's just 'always' made them.
And we are very happy about this.
Do you have someone in your family
that is responsible for making
certain things for get-togethers?!
Maybe you should start by making these!!!

WHAT YOU NEED:
1/2 cup shortening
1 2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
5 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Powdered sugar, several cups to roll dough in

WHAT TO DO:
Cream together (mix together)
the first three ingredients.
Once well combined, mix in eggs.
Set aside.
In a separate microwavable bowl,
melt butter and mix in the cocoa
to make a soft paste.
Combine this into the creamed ingredients
and mix well.
In another separate bowl or
right in the measuring cup,
combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Alternately add flour mixture and milk
into the mixing bowl.
Mixing well between each addition
and beginning and ending with the flour.

Cover and refrigerate the cookie dough
for several hours or overnight.
(will yield: appx. 4-5 dozen - depending on size)

When ready to bake,
preheat oven to 350.
Pour several cups of powdered sugar
into a medium sized bowl.
Remove dough from fridge and
using a teaspoon, scoop dough into a
1 to 1 1/2 inch size ball and drop into
the powdered sugar.
Using only one of your hands
(always try and keep one hand 'clean'
during cooking and one hand to dip or batter
things - your phone will always ring
or you will need a free hand to
itch your face or something - trust me)

Okay, back to rolling your cookie dough balls
into the powdered sugar...
do not be skimpy with this -
pile on the powdered sugar!
Roll 'em around good and pack it on.
Place on a baking sheet that's been sprayed
with non-stick cooking spray.
I do the 3,2,3,2,3 method when loading
a cookie sheet.
I start with 3 balls of cookie dough across
for the first row,
then two, the next row 3, etc.
By alternating the rows,
it gives the cookies room to spread
and not stick together.

Fill up the baking sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let rest for a minute or so
before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

It's really a good idea to use two baking sheets
when baking cookies so you can
alternate pans and start each batch
on a cooled cookie sheet.
This way you can have one sheet baking
while you are prepping the next batch.
And they won't start to melt before baking.

We often consume most of these cookies
as they come out of the oven. (kidding)
BUT, if you have some left on your
cooling rack, place them in a sealed container
to keep fresh.  And/or double this batch!!!

ENJOY!!!!

Golf Ball Size Goodness

Welcome back to Free Recipe Friday.
Today, we dive into the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie.
But these aren't just any Chocolate Chip Cookies,
they are Randi's Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Ginormous delicious-ness.

Do you ever have one of those weeks
when you just need to have something sweet?
This has been one of those weeks around here.
Though we don't regularly keep many sweets around,
my sweet, tired, overworked husband
requested 'Randi' cookies to hit the spot.
What are 'Randi' cookies ya say?
Lemme esplain.

During our recent summer family vacation to Tennessee,
my brother-in-law's sister, Randi,
treated lavished us with the most amazing cookies.
They were huge!  And they were yummy.
We were all in cookie heaven.

Turns out, they are easy to make,
require very few ingredients AND they are chocolatey.

What more could you ask for?!

Thanks so much Randi,
for sharing these with the crew in Chattanooga!
And what better souvenir than to have the recipe.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
2 eggs
4 teaspoons good vanilla
3 scant cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
(our salt quantity is increased
from the original recipe)
12 oz. bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

WHAT TO DO:
Preheat oven to 325.

Mix the first five ingredients together
in a medium bowl.
Add in the dry ingredients
and combine just until mixed.
Stir in chocolate chips.

Prepare a baking sheet by
spraying with non stick spray
and/or lining with parchment paper.

Scoop up cookie dough with an
ice-cream scoop and drop the dough 
onto the baking sheet
leaving four inches or so between each.
(we could only fit 6 on ours)
Press each golf ball size dough mound
just a tad - do not press down to spread out.
Just press enough to barely flatten
the tops only.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes
until golden brown around edges.
Remove cookies from oven and drop pan
onto the counter.  Cookies will collapse a bit.
And this is a good thing. 

Let cookies sit for several minutes
to continue cooking.
Remove cookies onto a cooling rack.

Eat immediately or store in a sealed container.

ENJOY!!!

Coooooooookies!

This week it is definitely time for something sweet around here at Free Recipe Friday.  Cookies are a  delicious and great place to start wouldn't you say?!?  And LEMON CRINKLES at that.  Honey hush.  Cookies are just the best - I mean, unless you are making chocolate chip ones, you pretty much always have the ingredients to throw together some kind of cookies - at least I hope you do.  The staples of cookie life...butter, sugar, flour, salt, eggs...if you have those, you can pretty much rule the world!  Even though this week's recipe is my second favorite 'crinkle' variety (chocolate ones are the BOMB and my sister makes the best chocolate crinkles...maybe another post?!) they are amazing...so that's what we are cooking up.  I recently stumbled upon them and wanted to give them a try. 

WHAT YOU NEED:
½ cup butter, softened (1 stick)

1 cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

⅛ teaspoon baking soda

1-½ cup all-purpose flour

½-1 cup powdered sugar

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease baking sheets with non-stick spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together
until light and fluffy.
Mix in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice.
Scrape down the sides and mix again.
Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined,
excluding the powdered sugar.
Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.
Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate.
Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball
and roll in powdered sugar.
Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin
to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}.
Remove baking sheet from the oven
and cool the cookies on the baking sheet
for about 3 minutes
before transferring to cooling rack.

These are so yummy and addicting!
ENJOY!