Em's Sugar Cookies and Frosting

I never have this recipe when I need it and my sister keeps texting it to me and then it gets lost in my text history. So- I'm putting it up so I don't have to ask her again! :) These sugar cookies are my favorite!

Here's what you need:
1 c. butter
1 c. sour cream
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla

6 1/2 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

Mix the first 5 ingredients together and then add the last 3. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Makes 5-6 dozen

Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 c. butter
2 t. vanilla
1-2 T. cream or milk
about 1 lb. powdered sugar

Mix butter and vanilla until soft. Add about 1 lb. powdered sugar, give or take a bit. Add a pinch of salt and milk/cream until you reach your desired consistency

Oatmeal Choco Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from a neighbor and it is one of my absolute favorite cookie recipes- EVER!

What you'll need:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/4 - 2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 c. semi sweet choco chips
1 c. milk choco chips

What to do:
Cream together butter and sugars. Add vanilla, eggs and mix well. Add salt, soda, powder and flour and mix until just combined. Stir in oats and choco chips. Roll into large balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12  minutes.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Frosting

We've had this recipe in our "drafts" folder for almost 2 years now. They just never last long enough to take pictures! My family devours these so quickly, it's ridiculous!

Emily made these for me for the first time right after I had my last baby (Sara, who is now 2 1/2). I'm pretty sure I ate all of them - and I don't even like Caramel!! These are so ridiculously delicious. Each time we've made them together since then, we keep finding ways to make more cookies so we can have more whoopie pies!!

What you'll need:
Cookies:
2 boxes devil's food cake mix (we prefer Betty Crocker brand)
1 bar Crisco
4 eggs

Salted Caramel Frosting:
1 c. softened butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. caramel sauce
1/2 t. Fine salt (fleur de sel is recommended but I can never find the stuff, so I use popcorn salt!  It's super fine)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix cake mix, Crisco and eggs until well blended. Batter will be very stiff.
2. Roll into balls, or use a small cookie scoop. Drop onto an ungreased baking sheet. Before baking, I slightly flatten each cookie. I just use the backside of a spoon to give them a very slight indentation.
3. Bake for 7-9 minutes. You want to UNDERbake them so they'll stay soft once they're filled. The cookies will definitely not look done when you take them out, but that's good. (Once you fill them, they have to be refrigerated. So if you underbake them, they'll stay soft and chewy)
4. Allow them to cool completely, and then refrigerate- that way they firm up a bit before you fill them.

Best Ever Chewy Snickerdoodles

I have never been a huge fan of snickerdoodles- I prefer chewy chocolate chip cookies any day. But my husband is a die-hard snickerdoodle fan so the quest began for a good recipe for him. It must've been my lucky day because, I actually found the perfect one- the very first try! I've made these a few times now and they turn out perfect every time and are SO delicious and chewy! I took some in to my husband's office for his birthday and got so many compliments!

Best Chewy Snickerdoodles
Source: Our Best Bites

What you'll need:
1 3/4 c. sugar, divided
1 T. ground cinnamon
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. cream of tartar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
8 T. butter at room temperature
8 T. shortening
2 large eggs

What to do:
Prep: Preheat oven to 375. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Combine 1/4 c. sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish and set aside.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

Beat butter, shortening and remaining 1 1/2 c. sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Reduce the speed of the mixer and slowly add the flour mixture until well combined.

Roll about 2 T. of dough into balls and then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Place on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. (Really do this- they spread a lot! And you want them to be larger balls because then they will be nice and chewy.)

Bake 1 sheet at a time for about 10-12 minutes, until edges of cookies are set and just barely beginning to brown. Centers will look soft and puffy and look underdone.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

I found these cookies awhile back and they have very quickly become my "go-to" cookie recipe. I LOVE these cookies. Love them. Really, really. I've made them with PB chips and with mini reeses pieces.  Both ways are delicious! These cookies very rarely last longer than a day, but when they do, they are still so good!

Recipe source: Inside BruCrew Life

What you'll need:
3/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 T. honey
1 t. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 sm. box vanilla pudding
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. reeses pieces or PB chips

What to do:
In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and pudding mix. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, cream the butter, PB and sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla and honey and mix again.

Slowly add the dry ingredients, being careful not to over-mix.

Stir in the chocolate chips and reeses chips by hand.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. DO NOT overbake! Cool on pan for 3-4 minutes. Store in a tightly covered container.

Cookies and Cream Cookies

These are one of my absolute favorite cookies. They are quick to put together and even quicker to get devoured! Every time I make them, they don't last long- especially with my brother-in-law around who practically inhales them.

This recipe is pretty much the same as the pudding cookie recipe we have on here, but this particular one I got from  Sweet Treats and More. It is so yummy, but I did reduce the amount of chocolate chips- it was too chocolatey the first time I made it with 2 cups of chips and the candy bars. Now I make them with 1 cup of choco chips and they are much better and not quite as rich.

Enjoy!

What you'll need:
1 c. butter, room temp
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 (4.2 oz) pkg. Oreo pudding mix
2 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 Hershey's Cookies N Cream candy bars broken into small pieces
1 c. milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix your flour and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars until combined, then add the Oreo pudding mix and mix well.

Add the eggs and vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour and soda. Fold in the chocolate pieces and chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Don't overcook them- they are much better a tiny bit under-done.

These are sooooo good. Enjoy!

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

OK, so these may just be one of my new favorite cookies. They are delicious! I made them for my husband and he liked them so much that he asked if he could take the leftovers to work. He NEVER does that! It was the nicest and best compliment!

They're soft and chewy with the perfect texture... they remind me a lot of a sugar cookie recipe I've tried with cream cheese but these are far less work and oh so good. The cream cheese is really pretty subtle and you can eat all the cookie dough you want (without any guilt) because there's no eggs!  Plus, now that I've got the cream cheese cookie base down, I can't wait to try them again with lemon zest and lemon extract for a lemon cheesecake cookie. But these Oreo ones sure are good!

Recipe Source: Collecting the Moments
Yield: The recipe says 1 1/2 dozen, but I doubled it and got 4 1/2 dozen, so it must depend on how big you scoop them.

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used salted with no problem)
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup mini chocolate chips (I didn't have minis so I used regular sized, but I don't think they need any at all)
1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (Don't skip the parchment paper of your bottoms may burn more) and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and well-combined.

3. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and mix until the ingredients are well-combined. (I mixed my batter for awhile here and my dough got really nice and fluffy... that may be why I was able to get so many cookies from the recipe.)  Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the mini chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

4. Place the Oreo cookie crumbs in a small bowl. Scoop the cookies into about 1½ to 2″ balls (the dough will be very soft but it's not nearly as sticky as I expected and the crumbs hold everything together) and then roll in the cookie crumbs. Place the cookie balls on the baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed.  It's very hard to tell if the edges are golden, so I looked for a "puffed" cookie that had started to "crackle."  Once there were some good cracks along the top, I knew they were done.  Don't overbake!

5. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not a huge fan of anything pumpkin, but I do like pumpkin cookies...IF they have chocolate chips in them...lots and lots of chocolate chips.  Well, I came across this recipe on MADE. I stalk her blog for crafting stuff, but this past Fall, she decided to do a bunch of posts with Pumpkin recipes. I've been looking for a good pumpkin choco chip cookie recipe for a long time and this one was perfect! It is a little different- seeing as how you don't use eggs (so it's also safe to eat the cookie dough...not sure I'd reccommend it, but you still could...if you wanted to) but very good!

So here it is:

Cookies (makes about 3 dozen cookies)
½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. You can either grease your cookie sheets, or be lazy like me, and use parchment paper. :)
 
2. In medium bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Stir in the pumpkin and vanilla.

3. In separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture.  

4.  Add your chocolate chips. 

5.  Drop dough on your cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. 

NOTE- These cookie will maintain their shape in the oven, so however they look when you drop them on your cookie sheet is how they will look when they come out. This doesn't technically matter since you coat them with the most scrumptious cream cheese frosting...but just so you are aware. :)

Cream Cheese Frosting (makes enough for two batches of cookies)
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
½ cup butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt 


Mix together and frost your cookies!  Enjoy!
Sorry I forgot to take pics of them frosted- they didn't last long enough. :)

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Ooooooh. These are good! Soooo good. I found them on Our Best Bites and made a few adjustments and they were soooo good!! And I was so proud of myself for actually making something from scratch (as opposed to what I usually do, which is find a recipe that uses a cake mix). They were pretty easy (as easy as it gets without a cake mix, that is), and sooooo good. Did I mention these are sooo good yet? Cause they are. Really. Really. Good. Yum. I'm drooling.

Okay, on to the recipe now. Oh, by the way, these are good. Mmmmm.

Cookies:

1 c. butter flavored Crisco ( I only had regular, so that's what I used and they were still good. Really. good.)
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 eggs
3 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Filling:
1 c. nutella (her recipe calls for PB, but that was just too much PB for my liking)
1/2 c. real butter, softened
4 c. powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla
5-6 T. milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add in vanilla, and eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to dough. Mix to combine. The dough will be very soft- that's normal!

Roll into balls, place on cookie sheet (no need to grease it). You can squish them with a fork it you want to get the criss-cross pattern, but I found they looked prettier without it.

Bake them for about 6-7 minutes. You want them to stay soft, so don't let them get brown. Remove them from pan and cool on a cooling rack.

To make the filling, whip the nutella and butter together until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Then add milk one T at a time. You may not need it all. You want the filling to be on the thick side, it should just have enough milk in it to make it easily spreadable.

I put the filling in a zip-lock bag with the edge cut off to make filling easy. Place filling on one cookie and sandwich another on top. This makes a LOT of frosting...just so you know.

These cookies were sooooo good. And the frosting was pretty dang good too. Dad and Karen kept just sneaking the frosting and wanted to lick the bowl clean when I was finished (ya, did I mention I didn't use half the frosting...?)

Peanut Butter Blossoms- the Hershey Kiss Cookie!

One of my all time favorites- partly because I love to try all kinds of kisses on these. There are so many fun kinds now! My favorites are the Hot Cocoa Creme ones or the PB ones on these cookies.

We tried a Valentine variation where we used chocolate hearts instead of kisses and they were just as cute... and just as tasty!

1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 t. baking soda
1 egg
2 T milk
1 t. vanilla
1 3/4 c. flour
Hershey kisses

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, beat shortening and peanut butter. Add the 1/2 c. sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until combined. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. Add the flour.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Immediately press in a hershey kiss once out of the oven.

Russian Teacakes

These are yummy! Mom used to make them and they were good. I haven't made them in a long time because I forget to buy nuts...but they're good and a classic.

1 c. soft butter
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
3.4 c. finely chopped nuts

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Blend flour and salt. Add to butter mixture. Mix in nuts.

Chill for 1-2 hours.

Heat oven to 400. Roll into 1 inch balls.

Bake 10-12 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar, while still warm.

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I believe this is the recipe on the back of Reese's peanut butter chips...but oh well. It's soooooo good!

2 c. flour
3/4 c. Hershey' Cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 2/3 c. Reese's Peanut Butter chips

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla. Combine with flour mixture. Mix in the chips and spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.

Coffee Shop Oatmeal Cookies

These are by far, the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever found. Soooo good. And they make a LOT.

2 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2 c. butter
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla
4 c. four
4 c. oats
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
2 c. raisins (I never add these)
2 c. chocolate chips
2 c. nuts (I don't add these either cause Joe is a stinker and doesn't like nuts)

Cream together the sugars and butter. Then add the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, soda and powder. Add to the sugar and butter mixture. Once combined, add in the raisins, chocolate chips and nuts and spoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Yum!

Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (like "Oreo Cakesters")

When Dacia came down, she wanted to make chocolate sandwich cookies. No particular reason. Just wanted us to gain a couple extra pounds. So we perused allrecipes until we found a combination we liked. We ended up finding two different filling recipes and taste tested them. The cream cheese filling was definitely our favorite, but that may be because we're cream cheese addicts. The cookies tasted just like cream cheese brownies. They were sooo good. The other cream filling sounds a bit weird, but tastes just like the filling in a Twinkie, or Ding Dong. It's sweet, but really good, and makes the cookie more similar to an Oreo Cakester. My kids obviously liked this one best. Both were easy to whip up and these cookies were so pretty! Perfect for giving away because they're quick, easy, and oh so precious.

Cake Mix Cookie: (Double this recipe)

1 box devil's food cake mix (After trying all three main varieties of cake mixes, I definitely prefer Betty Crocker's... they always turn out better)

1/2 bar of Crisco

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix cake mix, Crisco, and eggs, until well blended. Batter will be very stiff.

2. Roll into balls, or use a small cookie scoop. Drop onto an ungreased baking sheet. Before baking, I slightly flatten each cookie. I just the backside of a spoon to give them a very slight indentation.

3. Bake for 7-9 minutes. You want to UNDERbake them so they'll stay soft once they're filled. The cookies will definitely not look done when you take them out, but that's good. (Once you fill them, they have to be refrigerated. So, if you underbake them, they'll still stay soft and chewy after refrigeration)

4. Allow them to cool completely, and then refrigerate them. That way they firm up a bit before you fill them. It makes them easier to fill.

Cream Cheese filling:

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1. In medium bowl, cream the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar together until fluffy and fully incorporated. Don't overbeat or it'll become runny. Add vanilla. Refrigerate about 15 minutes before using.

"Other" cream filling:

1 1/2 cups shortening
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 egg whites, beaten

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1 1/2 cups shortening with the confectioners' sugar and 1/4 cup of flour until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually beat in the milk and vanilla until well mixed, then fold in the egg whites.

Assembly:

Once your cookies are cooled, pipe a heaping tablespoon of filling onto the center(you want one big cylinder in just the middle of the cookie) of the bottom of one cookie. I found that by piping my filling on, it was neater once I sandwiched my cookies together. Plus, by piping it on the center of the cookie, it allows plenty of room for the filling to spread out and not leak out. Once the filling is piped on, top it with another cookie and you have a perfectly adorable chocolate sandwich cookie.

Because of the ingredients in the filling, be sure to refrigerate these. The filling doesn't hold up when it's not cooled. We know this from the runny, soggy messes Dacia took up to Joe. Also, they tend to be better the next day. The cookies are a bit softer from the filling and the filling has firmed up so it doesn't squeeze out when you bite into it.

White Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

Alan's coworker made these and he LOVED them. He brought a few home and the kids also loved them. I thought they were okay, but not my favorites.

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter or margarine softened
1/4 cup white chocolate chips melted
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
8 oz package cream cheese softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp milk
1 can cherry pie filling

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In large mixing bowl cream together sugars, shortening, margarine, vanilla and eggs. Add in slightly cooled melted white chocolate. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in white chocolate chips.

Cream together softened cream cheese , powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk until blended.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Make an indention with your finger or spoon in top of dough. Drop a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into each indention. Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Let cool. Spoon on cherry pie filling. Store in refrigerator.

Makes about 3 dozen

Lemon Cookies

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon juice, lemon extract and lemon zest until well blended.

3.Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Never Fail Sugar Cookies

I know Sara just posted a sugar cookie recipe, but I just had to post this one too. We went caroling this past week (with Relief Society and Young Women). One of the people we sang to had made these cookies for us. She gave me the recipe on Sunday and I promptly made two batches on Monday. Today our good friends came over and helped us frost and sprinkle them. So fun! And so incredibly delicious and easy.

2 cups sugar
2 cups butter, softened

6 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons dry vanilla pudding mix (optional--will help cookies stay soft)
7 cups flour


Cream butter and sugar. Add other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Roll 1/4" to 1/2" thick (your preference). Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Soft Sugar Cookies

Cream together:
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar

Add and Cream:
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Add:
½ cup sour cream

Sift separately and then combine with the mixture:
3 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Roll them out thick and bake in 400 degree oven for 8-11 minutes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

6 cups flour
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp soda, salt, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon
1 ½ cup shortening
29 oz can of pumpkin
2 bags milk chocolate chips

Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs, then pumpkin and vanilla. Sift flour and seasonings. Gradually add to pumpkin mixture. Mix in Chocolate chips. Bake about 10-15 minutes at 375, depending on the size. They're best if you cover and let them sit for several hours...they get softer.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are such a great cookie recipe- and super simple too. And the best part is that you can use any type of pudding mix for these to mix it up a little!

2 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, softened (not too melted or cookies will come out greasy and flat)
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 small box instant vanilla pudding (3 ½ oz)
2 eggs
2 cups milk chocolate chips

Combine flour and baking soda; set aside. Cream butter, sugars, vanilla and pudding mix. Beat in eggs. Add flour mixture. Add chocolate chips. Bake 9-10 minutes in a 375 degree oven.