And the winner is. . .

Confession time - I was going to take in the Christmas in November Open Houses this evening with my sidekick Sarah, but when the rain and cold set in we settled for a play date complete with cookies.  I realized I have never shared my chocolate chip recipe with you.  I spent months a couple winters ago trying out several different chocolate chip cookie recipes in the search of the perfect chocolate chip recipe, countless bags of flour, and 15 pounds later, this recipe was the clear winner, and it has been my go to recipe ever since.

Thick, Soft, and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
SERVES 36
1/2 cup real butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (12 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter and shortening until creamy. Add sugar and vanilla and beat with a mixer on medium speed until well blended.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Add flour mixture, and beat slowly to incorporate, then beat to blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop batter in 2-tablespoon portions about 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake in a 375°F preheated oven until edges of cookies are brown but an area about 1 inch wide in the center is still pale, about 10 minutes. Let cookies cool on pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks with a spatula.

And now to the winner of the cupcake give away. . .

Since I had 6 entries, I decide a dice would be the easiest way to determine the winner, I seriously spent days trying to decide the best way to pick the winner.  Yep, pretty exciting life I am leading here, I know.

Drum roll please. . . . . .

The winner was. . .

#5  - HEATHER!!  The triple dipped cone with polka dots is yours!!  

I am bummed you all couldn't win, but if you make yourself some of these chocolate chip cookies, you will feel better!!  Trust me.  I know these things.  

Tomorrow is the Turkey Trot 5K I am currently carb loading on chocolate chip cookies, which is sure to either make me fast, or give me the runs, it's really any ones guess.  

What's your plans for the weekend?  

Healthy Cookies?

I will be the first to admit have a bit of a reputation, I love cookies, I love to bake them and to eat them. It's a bit of an obsession, the only problem being, they are far from healthy and tend to have a tendency to make my pants tight. I have never been a person who can eat just one, usually I call it a victory if I eat less than a dozen! Yikes!


Last week I spent some time googling healthy chocolate chip cookies, and believe me there are some recipes out there, did you know its possible to make vegan chocolate chip cookies? Would it really be a cookie without butter?? I am not ready to give up butter, but maybe a little less wouldn't be all bad?


I finally found a recipe that used basic items that were in my pantry, but then life got in the way and honestly I wasn't that excited about them, I was sure they would be blah. . .

Fast forward Wednesday, Thursday's schedule goes like this - busy with a side of crazy. I was trying to come up with things to pack for snacks and just kept coming back to cookies, it's always the cookies. So I decided to go for it, you only live once right, and honestly I cannot be a mom without making cookies, it's a basic part of what makes me, me. But I do want to fuel my kids with healthy foods. So I dug out the whole wheat flour and started.










I will be the first to admit, I was sure they would be horrible and taste more like a granola bar than cookie, which is fine because we do love granola bars, I decided to try the dough, I am a HUGE dough eater, it's a horrible habit, and I didn't think I would like this dough, but guess what, it tasted like chocolate chip cookie dough, granted it was chewier than regular cookie dough, but still wonderful. I quickly dropped the dough on cookie sheets so that I would quit eating it!





And the finished product. . .







The verdict. . .

One happy family, no one said a word that these were not my usual butter and shortening filled cookies, mom had just made the first batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies in months, they were in heaven and kept their mouths full hoping that this might be the end of the dry spell.

Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 cup butter (told you I wasn't given it up)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla

Beat the butter until smooth, all the rest and beat until smooth and creamy - it will look kinda gross, but it will be good. (I would have taken more pictures but someone forgot to charge her camera)

3/4 cup oatmeal - grind it in the food processor
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and slowly add them while the mixer is on, mix until just combined, don't ask me what happens if you over mix - I follow recipes, at least on my first attempt to make something! Then hand mix the chips in, drop by rounded teaspoon fulls and bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

The best part about these cookies - they are filling, I couldn't eat a dozen if I tried. . .