*~* Best Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipes *~* Hey,Hey,Paula

My daughter Calla and I are making cookies to ship to Iraq and I knew I couldn't go wrong with recipes from America's Test Kitchen, My favorite PBS TV show and web site. (http://www.americastestkitchen.com) Thought I would share them with you all. Enjoy!

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Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 18 large cookies

These oversized cookies are chewy and thick, like many of the chocolate chip cookies sold in gourmet shops and cookie stores. They rely on melted butter and an extra yolk to keep their texture soft. These cookies are best served warm from the oven but will retain their texture even when cooled. To ensure the proper texture, cool the cookies on the cookie sheet. Oversized cookie sheets allow you to get all the dough into the oven at one time. If you’re using smaller cookie sheets, put fewer cookies on each sheet and bake them in batches.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1–11/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips to taste.

Roll scant ¼ cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 1/2 inches between each ball.

Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and front to back), until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets. When cooled, peel cookies from parchment.

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Big and Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Makes about 18 large cookies

If you prefer a less sweet cookie, you can reduce the white sugar by one-quarter cup, but you will lose some crispness. Do not overbake these cookies. The edges should be brown, but the rest of the cookie should be very light in color. Parchment paper makes for easy cookie removal and cleanup, but it is not a necessity. If you don’t use parchment, cool the cookies on the baking sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

11/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3 cups rolled oats

11/2 cups raisins (optional)

Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together in medium bowl.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and optional raisins.

Working with generous 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 2-inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each ball.

Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies, on parchment, to cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before peeling cookie from parchment.



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Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

These cookies have a strong peanut flavor that comes from extra-crunchy peanut butter (in our taste test we preferred Jif) as well as from roasted salted peanuts that are ground in a food processor and worked into the dough. In our testing, we found that salted butter brings out the flavor of the nuts. If using unsalted butter, increase the salt to one teaspoon.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup extra-crunchy peanut butter, preferably Jif, at room temperature

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup roasted salted peanuts, ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs, about 14 pulses

Adjust ovens rack to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.

Working with generous 2 tablespoons each time, roll dough into 2-inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving 2 1/2inches between each ball. Press each dough ball twice with dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design.

Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking time (from top to bottom racks and back to front), until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges but not on top, 10 to 12 minutes. (Cookies will not look fully baked.) Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to wire rack with wide spatula to cool completely.

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