My 3-year-old daughter said to me this morning, “I want to bake something.”
Oh, Lord.
She is going to be just like me, isn’t she?
Well, at least we had a good reason to bake today. Gotta start building up Christmas cookie stock for the yummy gifts we will be giving out for the holiday!
I love baking Christmas cookies, but I have such a hard time deciding what kinds to make. Since we have a giant bag of chocolate chips I bought at Sam’s Club, I chose to start with that simple recipe. With a touch of Christmas on top.
The first thing you need to do is sniff the vanilla. Just to make sure it’s still okay.
If the vanilla is still good, then by all means go ahead and mix up the cookies! My recipe no doubt came off the back of a chocolate chip bag years ago. Of course, it has been doubled.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 c. shortening
1 ½ c. granulated sugar
1 ½ c. packed brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. salt
4 ½ c. flour
2 cups chocolate chips, or a little more if you are in serious need of a chocolate fix
Cream together the shortening and sugars until fluffy. Then beat in the eggs. After that, I add the baking soda, vanilla and salt and mix well. Stir in the flour one cup at a time, then finally add the chocolate chips and stir it all up. If it doesn’t look like there are enough chocolate chips, add some more. Just pour ’em in.
Use a small cookie scoop to form the dough into balls, then dip the balls into Christmas colored sprinkles. Place dough balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Enjoy!
Instead of using 2 cups of shortening, on a whim I decided to use half shortening and half butter. This may be the reason why the cookies are flatter than I like. The first few actually fell apart when I was taking them off the cookie sheet, so I let the rest cool for several minutes before removing them.
Violet saw me taking pictures of the goods and ran to get her own camera.
I love the platter that we use for Christmas treats. My mom painted it herself, then glazed it and had it fired. It is my favorite serving piece at Christmastime.
Of course, it is my only Christmas serving piece…
Last year, we started a new Christmas Eve tradition of us all decorating our own gingerbread house. I’ve already started searching the internet for decorating ideas and I get excited whenever I see a gingerbread man or dwelling. There are some really awesome works of gingerbread art out there! The little painted house on my platter made me smile, thinking of the fun we are all going to have creating our houses on Christmas Eve.
Do any of you have a special Christmas tradition? I would love to hear about it! Until then, thanks for stopping by and God bless!
She is so adorable! That plate reminds me of one from my childhood. What memories!
Those are some of the things I remember from my early years. Fun things my family did, the pattern on the wallpaper in the kitchen…. We don’t have wallpaper, though, so I will give her a pretty platter to look at. 😉 LOL
Nice!
Oh my goodness, she is so precious! You had us at hello… 😉 xx PS, can’t wait to try your cookie receipe 😀
Thank you!
I am so glad I “got” you — whether at hello or somewhere in the middle…
If you try the cookies let me know how you like them. And stop in again sometime! I love hearing from you!
Have a great day. 🙂
SO fun! And have missed you, my friend. Love the platter, love that your mom made it. 🙂 xxx
I’ve missed you too! It’s good to be back in the land of the blogging. 😉