The "Other" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been a Toll House girl my whole life. No deviations, got the recipe right on the bag, no questions asked. Until now.

While making Pane Toscana over Christmas, I was feeling a little wild-n-crazy, so I tried the so-called "Extraordinary Chocolate Chip Cookies" recipe on the Gold Medal Flour bag. "Extraordinary" may be pushing it, but they are real darn good. The Beloved and girls have declared they will only eat this kind from now on, and I have to say...I think I agree. So here you go:

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter - softened
1-1/4 c. sugar
1-1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 Tb. vanilla

4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 bag (24 oz.) chocolate chips
2 c. chopped nuts (optional - we say yuck!)

Directions:

(Preheat oven to 350*)

1. Mix dry ingredients in small bowl, whisking with fork to distribute salt and baking soda evenly in flour, set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl, blend butter and sugars at medium speed*, adding eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

3. Gradually add in flour mixture until well incorporated** (dough will be stiff and even a wee bit crumbly), then fold in chocolate chips

4. Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheets by generous tablespoonful (I have a fabulous 1/8 c. scoop that is the perfect size for this recipe) and bake 11-13 minutes*** until lightly browned on top.

Yield: approx. 6 dozen

* I use my trusty KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer - as long as the butter is nice and soft, use the whisk blender attachment

** I switch over to the dough hook at this point

*** I use Baker's Secret (2 layer air pocket style) cookie sheets and a rounded 2 Tb. scoop, so the bake time increases to 15 minutes - keep an eye on 'em the first time you make these and adjust accordingly - same goes for using a SilPat on a regular flat cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, which I've also done.

South Beach Cookies!

Summer is here...I am still working on getting back to pre-baby form and have lost 14 lbs. so far. (Will my waistline ever fully recover at 40? I don't know, but I am trying to find out!) But now my Beloved Husband is on board and has decided to try the South Beach Diet - the new "Supercharged" book came out a month or so ago, and we bought it.

My weakness is dessert - cookies, cake, brownies, ice cream, chocolate - that little bit of sweetness in the evening...ahhhhh...so I've looked around for some SB-friendly dessert recipes. I ran across a great SB fan's blog, Kalyn's Kitchen, which I recommend if you want to search recipes as well as look at discussion and find inspiration about this particular diet.

Here's one that I have yet to try, but seems to get universally good reviews:

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

* 1 cup Peanut Butter (trans-fat/low glycemic if possible)
* 1 cup Splenda
* 1 egg

Directions

Preheat over to 350. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine peanut butter, splenda, and egg. Mix until combined. Roll dough into walnut size pieces and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. With a fork dipped in more splenda flatten cookies. Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes. Only 2 cookies per day allowed - Phase I.

Approx. 20 servings.

Puffy sugar cookies

This recipe comes from my husband's mother - the cookies are soft and fluffy, and they do puff up, so use with simple cookie cutters (outlines) as opposed to patterned ones.

1/2 cup Crisco
1 1/2 cups sugar

Cream those together

Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 eggs

Sift together 3 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp.baking powder and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Add alternately with 1 cup sour cream

Roll out 1/4 inch thick.

375 degrees for 8 minutes.

The recipe does not say so, but I chill an hour or so before rolling out