Epic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe courtesy of  Tender Crumb. I altered it slightly, by using only regular flour, and using less chocolate chips (didn't have a big enough bowl for 2lbs!). Amazingly good!

Prep time: 30 minutes
Makes: Approx. 3 dozen large, or 7-8 dozen small

Ingredients:
-1 tbsp vanilla
-1 tbsp salt
-1 lb butter
-6 cups and 1 tbsp flour
-4 eggs
-2 tsp baking powder
-2 tsp baking soda
-1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 3/4 cups of granulated sugar
-2 1/4 cups of light brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, and butter well.

3. Mix in the eggs next until well blended. I didn't have a blender, so this took a looooong time. Hey, it's on the wishlist.

4. Mix in the vanilla, salt, baking powder and soda, flour, and chocolate chips until well blended.

5. Form dough into round balls (As a note: If you make them smaller, you will come out with about 8 dozen...just sayin.' I made larger ones and got 3 dozen out of the batch). Line a pan with parchment paper. Spread out rounded dough evenly on cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, until edges are golden brown.

Martha Stewart's Peanut Butter Cookies (feat. Brent and Aaron!)

Hello ladies and gentleman! Today we are doing something a little bit differently, because frankly, change is good! We are doing a special blog in which we will feature one of our friends or family members and one of their very own recipes, and we are calling it a Food Feature Blog (FFB). You will see many more of these as we go along on our gastronomical journey. Today's FFB is starring two wonderful friends of ours, Brent and Aaron.

Brent and Aaron

A very special thank you to them for sharing these great next two recipes, and for also helping the creative process as well. Six hands are better than two, after all, especially when photography in the kitchen is involved!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Makes: 1 dozen

Ingredients:
-8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
-3/4 cup smooth/crunchy peanut butter (we used crunchy!)
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
-1 large egg
-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-3/4 teaspoon baking soda
-Extra sugar for topping
-Hershey's kisses

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. In a bowl mix butter, peanut butter, and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and mix until well combined.

3. In another medium mixing bowl, mix flour and baking soda together. Add to the butter mixture, and beat until well mixed.

4. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough, shape into a ball, and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.

5. Add some sugar to a separate bowl. Take a drinking glass and dip the bottom part of it into the sugar. Then press on one of the cookie balls to add a sugary topping. Repeat until all cookies are flattened and sugar-coated.

6. Transfer to the oven, and bake until golden brown, approx. 18-20 minutes.

7. Unwrap a Hershey's kiss, and press it into the middle of the cookie after it is out of the oven, and before the cookie cools.

Enjoy! These cookies are really delish, especially when accompanied by a nice tall, icy cold glass of milk (I am from the dairy state, what did you expect?) Mmmmm!

Victorian Lavender Cookies with Rose Water Icing

Hello there! Welcome back. So, I decided to try this recipe I found online from The Spice House. This was inspired by a cookie contest we had at work. I didn't want to bring one of forty varietites of chocolate chip or sugar cookies, so I searched online to find something truly unique. So, if you are brave enough to attempt this one, you are going to need some special ingredients, including dried lavender and rose water. I got these also from the Spice House's website, and their shipping is extremely quick. I highly recommend them. This recipe makes about 4 dozen. I made mine a little bigger, so I came out with about 3 dozen. You also will need 2 bowls: One for the cookie batter, and one for the frosting.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 dozen

Ingredients:
*Cookie mixture:
-1/2 cup of butter
-1 cup of sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tsp. of lavender, crushed
-1 1/2 cups of flour
-2 tsp. of baking powder
-1/4 tsp. salt
*Icing:
-2 cups of powdered sugar
-5 1/2 tsp. of water
-6 1/2 tsp. of rose water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the butter and sugar together.

3. Crush the dried lavender with the back of a spoon.

4. Mix the eggs, lavender, flour, baking powder, and salt into the butter/sugar mixture.

5. Roll dough into round shape (a little bigger than teaspoon size).

6. Bake for 10 minutes.

7. While the cookies bake, prepare the icing by mixing the powdered sugar with water and rose water.

8. After the cookies have cooled for about 10 minutes, drizzle the icing over them.

This recipe is interesting, to say the least! It's sweet, but it has a very different, distinct taste. Josh was kind enough to be my guinea pig for the recipe, and he remarked, "It tastes like a doughy flower." I remember a girl in my World History class in high school making rose cookies, and they were delicious--they weren't like these. We had done a unit on Egypt, and rose water is a pretty common ingredient in Egyptian bakery. I think my next batch will be more rose-ish and less lavenderesque. I will have a go at my own recipe sometime, and let you know how it turns out!