Dad's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Contributor: j_luck

Author's Notes: This recipe has been tweaked a LOT by me and my Dad over several years. My Dad’s recipe is a little more conservative with the cinnamon, vanilla, lemon juice, and oats; you can decrease the amounts of each if you feel the need.

Warning: These things are addictive as hell. And they’ll ruin your diet. Trust me.

Dad's Chocolate Chip Cookies



1 cup rolled oats
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Cinnamon (I am a cinnamon fiend; I almost go to 3, but my Dad’s personal variant
is just 1)
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened but not room temperature
3/4 cup (dark) brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs (Large)
2 cups semi-sweet, chocolate chips (1 ½ Bags Nestlé’s 24 oz.); Baker’s Chocolate or dark
chocolate can be used at your discretion. I just made a batch with ¾ a bag of 12 oz. mini
chocolate chips to great success if you’re feeling a chocolate overload.
Half a small bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
1 cup chopped walnuts


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. My Dad usually finely grinds the oats but since I don’t have a food processor, I just mix
them with the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl with a wire wisk.

3. Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice in another large bowl. I swear
by an electric stand mixer with a dough hook [Oh Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer, how I love
thee], but it works just fine with a regular electric hand mixer. Add the eggs and mix
until smooth.

4. Add the flour mixture, chips, and nuts into the butter, sugar, and eggs and blend well
– do not use an electric hand mixer for this part! - mix by hand or dough hook until
ingredients are well blended. Make sure to get that bit at the bottom of the bowl; there’s
always some flour down there that never gets mixed properly.

5. Spoon rounded portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place the scoops about 2 inches
apart. You should keep the dough in the fridge when not using it. Bake in a 350°F oven
for 12 –15 minutes or until cookies are light brown and soft in the middle. Let them cool
on a wire rack until cool and store in a sealed container to keep soft. These things last a
week? I dunno, they usually get eaten within the next day and a half, I’m not really sure
about their shelf life.

6. From j_luck and j_luck’s Dad, Enjoy!

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Contributor: anibundel

Author's Notes: This is for 12 cupcakes, and is based on the recipe seen on America's test kitchen.

INGREDIENTS

CUPCAKES
1cup all purpose flour
1/2tsp baking soda
1/4tsp Salt

1/2cup boiling water
1/3cup cocoa powder
1/3cup semisweet chocolate chips
1tbsp instant espresso

3/4cup sugar
1/2cup sour cream
1/2cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract

FILLING
3tbsp water
3/4tsp unflavored gelatin
4tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/8tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4cups marshmallow creme (Be sure to use marshmallow creme, not marshmallow sauce!  Otherwise the filling won't set up correctly.)

GLAZE
1/2cup semisweet chocolate chips
3tbsp unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

Cupcakes:

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
• Grease and flour 12-cup muffin tin.
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in bowl, set aside
• Whisk water, cocoa, chocolate chips, and espresso in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla and mix until combined. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated.
• Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out with few dry crumbs attached, 18 to 22 minutes.
• Cool cupcakes in tin 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and cool completely, about one hour.

At the 30 minute mark on the cupcake cooling cycle, make the filling, and then the glaze.

Filling:

• Combine water and gelatin in large bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes.
• Microwave until mixture is bubbling around edges and gelatin dissolves, about 30 seconds.
• Stir in butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. Let mixture cool until just warm to touch, about 5 minutes
• Whisk in marshmallow creme until smooth; refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
• Transfer 1/3 cup marshmallow mixture to pastry bag fitted with small plain tip; reserve remaining mixture for filling cupcakes.

Glaze:

• Microwave chocolate and butter in small bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 30 seconds.
• Cool glaze to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

Assembly:

• Cut a cone out from the topside center of each cupcake. Cut the point off each cone to leave a cupcake "lid." (Be careful you keep each lid with it's proper cupcake, otherwise you'll have lumpy lids that don't fit right!)
• Fill cupcakes with 1 tablespoon filling each. Replace tops.
• Frost with 2 teaspoons cooled glaze, and let sit 10 minutes.
• Using pastry bag and reserved filling, pipe curlicues (or whatever design you want, really.  The curlicues are just to scream "hostess") across glazed cupcakes.
• Serve.

Peppermint Meringue Drops

Contributor: K_Commenter

Author's Notes: My mom's peppermint meringues -- famous among friends and family.  Dad likes 'em with the nuts in; I like to make variations and skip the nuts entirely.  Bonus: when you watch your add-ins, they're friendly desserts for the gluten-free eaters in your life.  Just be careful not to drop the box and shatter meringue all over your office.  Such as.  Um.  That might be really hard to clean up.  Just sayin'...

Peppermint Meringues

2 Egg whites at room temperature
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt (may be omitted)
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3 tbs crushed candy cane or starlight mints

• Beat egg whites on high speed until foamy
• Add cream of tartar and salt
• Beat until soft peaks form
• Add sugar a little at a time, beating in completely

• Remove beaters, fold in choc chips, nuts and candy
• Drop teaspoon fulls of mix 1.5" apart on lightly greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper on cookie sheet)
• Bake at 250 for 40 minutes

Brown Sugar Cookies

Contributor: anibundel


Brown Sugar Cookies


14 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cup+2 tbsp all purpose flour (10 2/3oz if you are a by-weight baker)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Melt 10 tbsp butter in skillet. Cook butter, stirring constantly until butter browns and has nutty aroma--about 1-3minutes. Transfer browned butter to bowl, add remaining four tbsp butter to it and stir until all is melted and let sit until roomish temperature, about 15 minutes or so.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and baking power in another bowl.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, set oven to 350 with rack in center position. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a shallow dish mix 1/4 cup brown sugar with 1/4 cup white, rubbing together until well combined. Set aside.

Add remaining 1 3/4 cup brown sugar and table salt to bowl with now-cooled butter and mix with wooden spoon until no sugar lumps remain.

Scrape down bowl, add egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

Scrape down bowl, add flour mixture, 1/3rd at a time. Give a final stir to make sure no flour pocket remain.

Turn out dough. Divide into 24 even pieces. Roll into balls and then roll balls in white/brown sugar mixture.

Set dough balls on baking sheets, 12 a piece.

Bake sheets *One At A Time.*  12 minutes per cookie sheet, turning sheet at 6 minute mark. Cookies will NOT look done when they come out. That's ok. Leave them sit on the baking sheet for five minutes while you start baking the second sheet.

After letting them "carry over bake" for five minutes on the sheet, carefully transfer to cooling rack using wide flat spatula. Repeat method with second cookie sheets worth of cookies. Cool to room temperature.

Eat Cookies.

Very Best Chocolate Cake

Contributor: SWNC

Contributor's Notes: A very moist, tasty, good old-fashioned chocolate cake. This is my go-to cake for birthdays, babies or any other cake-needing occasion. Don't be weirded out by the ingredients.


Very Best Chocolate Cake


2 c. flour
2/3 c. cocoa
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 2/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. mayonnaise (trust me)
1 1/3 c. water
¼ tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Line two cake pans with waxed paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and baking powder. In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. At low speed, beat in mayonnaise. Add flour mixture gradually, alternating with water, beginning and ending with flour. Pour into pans, bake 30-35 minutes or until done.

Maple-Walnut Pie

Contributor: SWNC

Contributor's Notes: This is a lovely, easy pie, like pecan pie, but not as sweet.


Maple-Walnut Pie


1 1/2 cup walnut halves and pieces
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup maple syrup (the real stuff, not Mrs Butterworths)
2/3 cup sugar
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla

Partially pre-bake your pie crust* (A pie this good, you don't want a storebought crust.) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the egg yolks, syrup, sugar, butter, cream and salt in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it is uniform in color and just starting to thicken (about 10 minutes). Do not let it boil. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla and walnuts. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake at 350 for 20  minutes.

* To pre-bake your crust, pre-heat the oven to 425. Place the dough in the pie pan, just as you would for any pie. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill the parchment paper with rice or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and rice, pour in the filling and continue baking as directed above.

Sweet Potatoes with Pears

Contributor: Cassandra2

Author's Notes: This recipe is vegan-friendly.

Sweet Potatoes with Pears

8 medium sweet potatoes or yams
1 c soy creamer
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 stick soy margarine
2 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 c chopped pecans
4 fresh pears

• Heat oven to 350 deg. F.
• Core, poach, and puree pears.
• Bake, peel and whip potatoes
• Mix soymilk, vanilla, sugar, and margarine. Scald mixture.
• Add mixture to potatoes
• Add orange juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, and pear puree.
• Pour into baking dish.

Bake 15 minutes, until thoroughly warmed through.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Contributor: K_Commenter

Author's Notes: When making these, I always let all the (spice) measuring spoons overflow. A lot. In fact usually I put nearly twice as much spice as recommended into these. And I usually add a sprinkling of nutmeg, or more almond or vanilla extract... Experiment, if you like. ;)

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

(3 Dozen)

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water (or vanilla extract)
¼ cup molasses
indeterminate – more white sugar


1.) Preheat oven to 350 F.
2.) Sift together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
3.) In large bowl, cream together margarine and (1 cup) white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, and then stir in water and molasses.
4.) Gradually stir sifted (dry) ingredients into the mixture.
5.) Shape dough into walnut-sized balls, and roll in white sugar (in a saucer or dessert plate is easiest).
6.) Place on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
7.) Bake 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow to cool on sheet for ~5 minutes before moving to wire cooling rack. Store in airtight container.