Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's the time of year to make these cookies! I couldn't be happier. From now til the end of the year is my favorite!!! I love the cooler weather.

This recipe is my Aunt Leslie's recipe. They come out PERFECT every single time!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix together the wet ingredients (the first three). In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Better Than Swig Sugar Cookies

Many of you have seen the recipe for Swig sugar cookies going around on pinterest. If not, if you live in St. George Utah you've probably tried some Swig sugar cookies. It's the happenin place right now. They aren't my favorite cookies though. Sure they're good, and sure they're trendy. However, I realized I like my sugar cookies nice and fluffy with some yummy cream cheese frosting. Again, this is the recipe my mom gave to me. Everyone usually likes them. You can make them for every holiday.

Ingredients:
1 cup Crisco
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
Cream together Crisco and sugar. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients until combined. The dough shouldn't be sticky.

There are a couple of different ways you can make the cookies. You can roll them out and use the cookie cutters. I do this for every holiday. I usually make different colors of frosting for the different holidays and then decorate them.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

OR

you can make them look like Swig's. You'll want to put the dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes if you want to make them look like Swig's. This way the dough will be the right consistency to make the cracked edges.

Then you'll roll the dough into balls a little bit smaller than golf balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Grab a bowl and pour some sugar in it. Get a drinking glass. Dip the bottom of the dipping glass in the dough mixture to get it sticky, then in the sugar. Press down on the ball to flatten edges.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Let cool before frosting. You can use any frosting to make these. Most of the time I just use canned frosting. But when I'm feeling extra motivated I make this:

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup of butter, softended
8 oz cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add more powdered sugar as needed to make it creamy.  

Pink Lemonade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box of pink lemonade cake mix (you can use strawberry as well and it would be just as good).
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil and mix until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Use a scooper, or spoon to make dough balls. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. After 5 minutes transfer to a cooling rack.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

For Valentine's Day I wanted to make a yummy treat. My friend Sandy and I made some yummy cookies. I went home and wanted more, but didn't have all of the ingredients we used at her house. She uses a Devil's Food Cake mix. I googled recipes for homemade ones and found THIS recipe. I loved how these turned out even more! I stacked them up and put them in a package and passed them out for Valentine's Day. Instead of the frosting recipe used on the site, I used Sandy's cream cheese frosting recipe.

Cookie Ingredients:
 1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) of room temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter, softended
8 oz cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl use an electric mixer to mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter on a low speed, then add the egg. Mix until dough comes together in one big mass.
Use your hands to roll about one inch balls of dough. Place on a greased baking sheet about two inches apart. Slightly flatten the top. Bake for 9 minutes. Take out and let cool for five minutes. Then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

To make the filling, mix the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add more powdered sugar as needed to make it creamy.  Put in the refrigerator until chilled.

Once the cookies are cooled and the frosting is chilled you can assemble the cookies. Place about 1-2 teaspoons of frosting in the middle of one cookie. Use a knife to slightly spread the frosting out. Place another cookie on top to press the rest of the frosting around the cookie and they will be perfectly spread.