Barefoot Contessa's Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the PERFECT chocolate chip cookies! I have tried so many chocolate chip cookie recipes; some are good, some are okay and some are bad but none of them are what I'm looking for. I like when my cookies are flat, with crispy edges and have a chewy center. Barefoot Contessa's (Ina Garten) chocolate chip cookies fulfill my cookie fantasy. They are exactly what I've been searching for!

Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teas baking soda
1 teas kosher salt
1 1/4 pounds semi sweet chocolate chunks
1/2 cup toffee bits (I added these for a little something extra ;)

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks (and toffee bits).
- Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4 inch- diameter ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yummy gingersnap cookies

Okay, I don't like gingersnap cookies. And I really don't like gingerbread men cookies, or gingerbread houses, or really any dessert that has the word "ginger" in the title. I don't know what it is, but I just REALLY don't like it. But that all changed with these cookies.

I saw this little beauty on Foodgawker and immediately knew I had to make these cookies. I don't know what it was, but I thought about them ALL THE TIME! When Sunday afternoon came around, I just couldn't wait any longer. They were BEGGING to be made, so I headed over to A Bitchin' Kitchen and drooled over their picture one more time, then made 'em.

Ohmagosh, Megan. These cookies were EVERYTHING I wanted them to be and more! They were the perfect ginger flavor and sooooooo chewy and yummy and the white chocolate just adds the right extra bit of sweetness to the cookie. Megan, MAKE THESE! Seriously, you won't regret it. They are so good! I can't stop talking about them slash eating them. Gahh!! They're sooo good!!!!

Grandma Hall's Sugar Cookies!

Well, here it is! The famous Sugar Cookie recipe! This is from my great-grandma Hall, and it's been a Christmas staple in our family for many generations! I hope you get as much use out of this recipe as we have!!!

Justin bought some cookie cutters a few weeks ago and wanted to make some special Christmas cookies. He bought a lab, a palm tree, a starfish, an elephant and a triceratop. Hmmm.... Christmas triceratop cookies?!?! That's what Justin wanted, so that's what we did!! My favorite is the starfish!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter- room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 well beaten egg

1 tbs. cream

1 tbs. vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

Method:

Cream together butter and sugar. When it's nice and creamed, add in the egg, cream and vanilla. ** NOTE** Mama Jean says it's very important to use GOOD vanilla. Don't use imitation vanilla, use good, high quality, natural vanilla extract. It will make all the difference in the world, and will make the cookies taste super delicious!!! When that's all mixed well, add the flour, salt and baking soda until it's all well incorporated. Mold the dough into a ball and wrap in wax paper and refrigerate over night. If you don't have time to let it sit in the fridge overnight, try to refrigerate for a few hours, or pop it in the freezer for a few hours. It's best to work with when it's cold.

When it's chilled, take it out of the fridge and taste it. Seriously. Taste some of the dough. I like it right out of the fridge, for some reason it's super tasty that way. Turn it out onto a floured surface and divide the ball into two sections (it's easier to roll when it's cold and in smaller sections). When your cookies are all rolled out and cut, bake them for 7-8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let them cool completely before you frost them.

Here is Justin working on his cookies!

Some of the cookies waiting to go into the oven!

Boone wanted to help. Or just eat them all...

Justin is trying to feed a lab cookie to Boone, who is a lab. Sadly, Boone didn't get to taste any.

So, the frosting. There isn't actually a recipe for the frosting, I just know the ingredients, and I add them until the frosting is a consistency that I like. When Justin and I made his batch of Christmas cookies, I recorded the amounts of ingredients for you. I recommend cutting this recipe in half for frosting the cookies; I made way too much!!

My Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter- room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

7 cups powdered sugar

5 tbs. cream or milk (I use fat free half and half)

Method:

Cream together the butter and vanilla. Then add one cup of powdered sugar at a time, alternating with about one tbs cream. Keep adding one at a time until you have the consistency that you want. Again, this is what I did when Justin and I made cookies, but I will definitely cut this in half next time because it made way too much. If I was frosting 24 cupcakes however, this would be the perfect amount.

Our finished Christmas cookies! Yummmmmmm!!!!