Family Food: Cookies

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter (don't substitute)
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375 F.

2. Mix sugars, butter, egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in chocolate chips. Tip: Mix the dough with a wooden spoon, not with an electric mixer. They'll be bumpier if you stir by hand!

3. Place dough in small balls in ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

*More Tips: Don't melt your butter all the way before mixing it with the other ingredients. Also, leaving the dough in the fridge for a few minutes before baking. And, my last tip: for some unknown reason, my first batch almost never turns out "perfect"....so why not make that first batch small (a test batch) while the rest of the dough is chilling in the fridge.

(Holiday variation with Snicker's bar inside!)

½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup peanut butter
2 Tbls milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Heat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, and butter until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter, milk, vanilla and egg; blend well. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2-inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately place a Hershey’s kiss on top of the hot cookie. Press down. Remove form cookie sheets and cool.

Holiday variation: Before placing cookie dough on the cookie sheet, wrap a “fun size” (the one-bite size) Snicker’s candy bar inside the dough. Bake as usual (don’t put a kiss on top). The Snicker’s will melt into the cookie—it’s pure heaven!

Note: You can certainly use a full-size Snickers bar and cut it into bite-sized pieces, but I prefer to save up all of the Snicker's from Halloween! :)