Chocolate Chip Cookies - Mama Jantz style

These are the only chocolate chip cookies I remember my mom making when I was a kid.  I always thought they were so much better than ones I had elsewhere.  When she gave me the recipe, I realized why.  There is a secret ingredient that makes them extra soft and moist, and they NEVER dry out or get hard, at least, not before they're completely scarfed up by everyone. : )

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
2 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
200 g. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. castor sugar
1 package (small) Jello Instant Vanilla pudding
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1 bag of chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts, optional

Mix flour with soda in a bowl and set aside.  Combine butter, sugars, jello mix, and vanilla in a large bowl.  Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.  Beat in eggs.  Gradually add flour mixture, then stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  You want a stiff batter.  Drop by tablespoon fulls onto an ungreased baking sheet, about two inches apart.  Bake at 375/190 for 8-10 minutes.  Makes about 2 1/2-3 dozen.

I'm planning to toy around with making vanilla pudding powder from scratch, so if it's successful in this recipe, I'll post that as well, so you won't have to import anything for these!

Walmart-like Sugar Cookies

Here's a recipe from a new contributor, Julie M!  Welcome, Julie!  I'm excited about this recipe for sure! I just can't resist those soft buttery sugar cookies at Walmart. :) This recipe makes an estimated 5 1/2 dozen 2 1/2 inch cookies.  So beware. :)

Cookies:
2 c. butter, softened (or 500 grams)
2 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. sour cream  (or fresh cream, heavy cream)
1 T. vanilla extract
1 t. almond extract
6 c.  flour
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

Preheat oven to 215C. Cream butter and  sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla and almond extract. Beat very well till mixture is light and fluffy. 

Mix all dry ingredients together in separate bowl.  Slowly blend dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Only mix until blended, do not over blend.  You can either refrigerate overnight and then roll out and cut. Or, you can just drop by cookie scoop onto cookie sheet. 

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-9 minutes until just barely tan around the edges. 

Julie says, "I rolled out the cookies w/o refrigerating and it worked out fine. If you want a sturdier cookie, then add a bit more flour. The trick is to not over-bake them. In my oven it only took about 4 minutes to bake. :) The second time I made these cookies, I did refrigerate them first for an hour or so before rolling out, and I thought it made the outside of the cookies more like the bakery sugar cookies. :)  Also, I think that the almond extract in both the cookie dough and the frosting is the key to making them taste like the bakery ones.  I also used butter paper  (same as parchment paper) on my cookie trays while baking and I think it helped them bake more evenly. Oh, one more thing, so the bakery sugar cookies are pretty thick, so I rolled them out to about 1/3- 1/2 inch thick."

Frosting: 

about 1/2 c. shortening  (or vanaspati or butter)

500 g icing sugar

about 1/4 cup fresh cream

1 t. vanilla flavoring

1 t. almond flavoring

Cream shortening and 1/2 of sugar together, add in rest of sugar, cream and flavorings. Cream till light and fluffy. Add food coloring if desired.

Double Chocolate Chews

This is like food therapy. Cookie love. Chocolate heaven. Just be warned: you'll want to eat the whole batch by yourself. They are not for the fainthearted. This is not an easy cookie recipe...

Double Chocolate Chews

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2/3 c. sifted powdered sugar

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

2 1/4 t. baking powder

1/8 t. salt

1 c. semisweet chocolate pieces, chopped into 1/4 inch squares(like Bournville bars) (or mini chocolate chips)

3 T. vegetable oil

1 c. packed brown sugar

2 1/2 T. light colored corn syrup or golden syrup, or honey

1 T. water

2 1/2 t. vanilla extract

3 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 175C.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, powdered sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

3. Combine 3/4 c. chocolate morsels and oil in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Pour melted chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and cool 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, water, vanilla and egg whites to chocolate mixture; stir well. Stir in flour mixture and 1/4 c. chocolate morsels.

4. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 175C for 8 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until firm. Remove cooies from pans; cool on wire racks. Yield 4 dozen. (Is it just me, or do cookie recipes never make as much as they say they do??)

Peppernuts!

This is a Jantz family tradition. My grandmother, Dorothy, used to make these every year. My mother made them as well, and now that I'm in charge of the Christmas baking, I'm making them too. I've never had them anywhere but at my house! :)

Peppernuts

1/2 c. butter

2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 t. baking soda (dissolved in 1 1/2 t. hot water)

2 1/2-3 c. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. mace

1/2 t. cloves

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. anise extract

1/2 c. finely chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add soda and water. Stir in dry ingredients. Chill dough. (Can be kept up to two weeks) Roll into 3/8” snakes. Flour board as needed. Slice thinly and bake on a cookie sheet at 350˚ for about 8 minutes.