Recipe: Cookies with variations - lots

The Basic Cookie Recipe with variations

2 1/2 to 3 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt

Makes about 24-36 cookies depending upon how big you make them. Recipe can be doubled or tripled without problems.

(Note: You can bake the cookies on an ungreased sheet or lighly grease or spray with cooking spray.)

Cream all the ingredients but the flour and then gradually mix in the flour. Put in enough flour to make the cookies easily handled and rolled into a ball, which makes soft cookies. You can put in less flour if you want thinner, crispier cookies., or you can add a little more butter if you want thinner, chewier cookies.

Bake the cookies at 350 F. 10-12 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

Cookie Variations
Peanut Butter Cookies
Add 1/2 cup peanut butter to make peanut butter cookies -- you may need to add a little extra flour as well.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Simply add chocolate chips and/or nuts to the basic recipe.

Butterscotch Cookies
Add butterscotch chips.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Substitute 1 cup oatmeal for 1 cup of the flour, add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp milk and some raisins.

Chocolate Cookies
Add 1/2 cup cocoa to make chocolate cookies -- add chocolate chips too if you really want to get devilish about it.

Snickerdoodles
Add 1 tsp cinnamon to the batter and then roll them into little balls and roll the balls in cinnamon-sugar misture before baking.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies
Make 1 batch of peanut butter and one batch of chocolate dough, roll them each out in a 1/4" layer and place one layer on top of the other. Roll the layers up like a jelly-roll and slice them into 1/4" slices to make peanut-butter chocolate pinwheel cookies. Refrigerating the dough to makes it easier to work with.

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Basic Sugar Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk or water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Let butter stand in a mixing bowl until soft. Mix in sugar, then egg, milk, and vanilla. Add baking powder to flour, and add to mixing bowl a little at a time, and mix well.
Drop by teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake on the top shelf at 375 degrees until brown (about 8 to 12 minutes). Makes about 4 dozen small cookies.

Variations:
Coconut Cookies: Add 1 cup of shredded coconut to the recipe after adding egg. Part of the coconut can be reserved and sprinkled over the cookies before baking.

Cinnamon Cookies: Add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to the flour. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

Orange Cookies: Substitute orange juice for milk and add grated rind of half an orange for the vanilla. Add 1 cup coconut, if desired.

Chocolate Cookies: Add 1/2 cup cocoa to the flour (reduce flour to 1 1/2 cups). Continue with the rest of ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees.

Peanut Butter Cookies: Add 1/2 cup peanut butter with the sugar (part brown sugar is good). Chocolate chips (about 1 cup) are good in this recipe.

Date Cookies: Substitute brown sugar for white sugar. Add 1 cup chopped dates to recipe after adding the egg. Add 1/2 cup nuts, if desired.

Whole Wheat Cookies: Reduce white flour to 1 cup and add 3/4 cup whole wheat flour. Add 1 cup molasses instead of sugar. Spices are a good addition (try 1 tsp. ground ginger).

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Classic Shortbread Cookies with Variations

1 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Cream the butter, then add sugar and salt. Fold in flour and mix to make a stiff dough. Knead gently on a lightly floured board to make the dough smooth.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes. Place cookies two inches apart on baking sheet and place in oven. Immediately reduce heat to 325 F. Bake until lightly browned (25 to 35 minutes). Don not over brown. Cool cookies on a rack.

Variations:

Cappuccino
Knead in about 1 tablespoon of freeze-dried coffee into the dough.

Brown sugar
Replace white sugar with 3/4 cup brown sugar.

Cashews, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts
Add 1/3 cup toasted, ground cashews, hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts with flour.

Chocolate dip
Melt 4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate. Dip cookies half into partially cooled chocolate. Allow to set.

Spice
Add 1 teaspoon apple pie spice, or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a 1/8 teaspoon cloves, pinch ginger and allspice.

Linzertorte
Add spices as directed above and 1/3 cup ground hazelnuts. Add one teaspoon vanilla (when creaming butter). Roll thinly and bake half of cookies with a hole cut out. Spread raspberry jam on bottom halves and top with a cut out. Dust with confectioner's sugar.

Chocolate chip
Knead in 1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips into dough.