A Plate of Cookies

Peanut Butter kiss cookie batch cooling.

I love to bake. More specifically I love to bake cookies. I've been told I have the best cookies in the world, but I'm sure there are others who would argue they or someone they know bakes better cookies. But, I at least have the stamp of approval from my family, friends, Girl Scouts and neighbors.
I never really got into the skill of cooking so much. Anything I can make in less than a half hour is my kind of meal. But baking cookies and other goodies really caught on with me. I like baking cinnamon rolls, but the process takes all day so I don't make them too often.

Wanna bite?

I love around the holidays making up plates of cookies for neighbors. Usually Hershey Kiss cookies, plus I throw some festive Hershey kisses in the holiday wrappers on the plate along with the cookies.
I've received requests from many friends to mail my cookies to them but I've only ever done it twice. Always afraid they'll arrive in broken pieces. Not a good idea to mail chocolate in the summer either, which a lot of my cookies do contain chocolate. I'm a stressed baker too which result in some of my best cookies. When I'm stressed about anything, baking a batch of cookies is usually my outlet. I don't care to be stressed but I'm sure my family likes the yummy results from me being stressed.

Using the right ingredients and the right amount of baking time in high altitude can make all the difference in the world for baking perfect cookies. For chocolate chip cookies I decrease the sugars and baking time, plus add 2 tsp. water to the cookie dough. In almost all cookie recipes the baking time is decreased for high altitude. You should never soften your margarine or butter in high altitude. Cut into small pieces instead and add to your dough. Large eggs also work better than medium or small eggs. I use the air bake cookie sheets and I do spray them with cooking spray. Most cookie recipes say to use an ungreased cookie sheet. I'm not sure if high altitude is the problem, but when I use an ungreased cookie sheet, the cookies get stuck to the sheet. Parchment paper works well too. If you are making oatmeal or oatmeal with chocolate chips or raisins, decrease the oatmeal a little. This helps your cookie to be more chewy and not dry. For example one recipe I have uses 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal. I decrease it to 2 or 2 1/4 cups. Most recipes are not created for high altitude so if you don't live in high altitude areas, the recipe you see should work fine (adjust times for your oven). If you do live in high altitude, most recipes, especially ones you bake should have adjustments on the package for high altitude.


Some of my Choc-Oat-Chip cookies in the cookie jar.

My favorite cookie to bake and eat are chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. The recipe comes from Nestle Very Best Baking right online. I only decrease the baking time and decrease the oatmeal for high altitude (and don't soften the margarine). We don't like nuts in our family so they don't get added. Nestle Choc-Oat-Chip cookies



Rolled sugar cookies. Very yummy!

Another favorite cookie amongst my kids and my Girl Scouts are my frosted sugar cookies. A recipe from years ago in an LDS ward cook book is my recipe of choice. It doesn't require you to refrigerate the cookie dough and they come out really soft and yummy. Like Granny B cookies only better. Just ask my kids! For the frosting I use powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, a little bit of cream cheese and margarine. Oh, and food coloring of course. They don't last in my house. They are a little time consuming and make a mess in my kitchen, but I don't mind baking them for an occasional treat, especially when the weather is cooler and I don't mind having the oven on. I have a Trefoil shaped cookie cutter too which I use a lot for treats at Girl Scouts. I know, not an authentic Girl Scout cookie, but those only come around once a year. Need to pacify all the cookie connoisseurs!
Over the years my cookies have satisfied the sweet teeth and cookie appetites of my children Amanda, Zakk, Caleb and Alyssa. Oh and my granddaughter McKinley. It's mainly for them I bake. OK, I bake for me too! :)