Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these for my older brother's birthday party last night and they were a HUGE hit!  It makes a large batch, which was a really good thing.  My husband even deemed them "extraordinary."  I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.  It was rated 4 1/2 stars and had been rated 7,128 times, so I figured it must be good...and it is!  As a side note, I always bake my cookies for a minute or two under what the recipe says to ensure truly soft cookies.  Enjoy!

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 12 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 40 Minutes Servings: 72

"Here's an Allrecipes classic and much-loved chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses instant pudding mix in the batter."

INGREDIENTS:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups butter, softened 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla

pudding mix 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Source: ldsliving.com

Andes Mint Puddle Cookies

I got this recipe from my friend Anjela down the street. She is a dessert master!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 package Betty Crocker's Devils Food Cake Mix (Any type of dark chocolate cake mix would work)

2 eggs
3/4 Cup Shortening (I always use butter flavored)
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 boxes Andes Mints

Combine all ingredients, EXCEPT the mints, with an electric mixer.

Scoop 1 inch balls on to UNGREASED cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake! Unwrap mints while your waiting for the cookies to bake.

Remove from oven. Immediately after you remove the cookies from the oven, place 1 Ande's mint on top of each cookie. Let it sit for a minute or two until it is melted. Once it is melted, swirl the chocolate slightly with your finger tip or the tip of a spoon, so that you now have a circle instead of a rectangle.

Let cool completely before serving.

Soft Gingersnaps

This recipe comes from my friend Marta's blog. The first time I made them, they instantly became one of my staples. Enjoy!

1 1/2 cup Shortening
2 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Dark Molasses
1/2 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Baking soda
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Cloves
2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 tsp. Ginger
4 cups Flour

Cream together all the ingredients except the flour. When dough is creamy, gradually add the flour. Form dough into small balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and flatten each cookie with your thumbprint.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes. (The key is to under-bake them a little for truly soft cookies.)