These cookies are a fun alternative to your standard chocolate cookie recipe. The chocolate crinkles are soft with a somewhat cake-like consistency. They have a nice cocoa flavor without being too rich or too heavy, while the confectioners sugar gives the cookies a pretty, snow-dusted appearance.

Chocolate Crinkles
from Family Fun Magazine

Yields 40 cookies

3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 6-oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, cocoa powder and sugar; beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly mix in the wet ingredients, then stir in the chips. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in confectioners’ sugar. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 12 minutes.

It’s not Christmas without decorated sugar cookies. I’ve made these cookies with my Mom for as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, we’d make seasonally themed sugar cookies: hearts, strawberries, ice cream cones, fall leaves, mushrooms, snowmen, stars and Christmas trees – Mom had a cookie cutter for every occasion.

Whenever we’d make the sugar cookies, she’d pull out her Betty Crocker cookbook and get to work. A few months after I got married, I excitedly pulled out my new Betty Crocker cookbook as I set out to make a fall batch of cookies in my new home. I discovered with dismay that the recipe had been altered over the years, and I didn’t have access to the recipe that I had grown up with. A phone call to my Mom and some hastily scribbled notes solved that problem!

It’s crucial to chill the dough thoroughly. Otherwise, the dough will stick horribly to everything. I usually work with the dough in batches, leaving it in the refrigerator until I need it. It’s also important to use a light hand when rolling out the dough and to handle it as little as possible. Rough rolling and excessive handling compresses to dough and results in dense cookies.

These sugar cookies are airy, crisp, crumbly and have a light, buttery sweet flavor.

Betty Crocker’s Classic Sugar Cookies

Yields 48 3″ cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1) Thouroughly mix the shortening, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
2) Blend in flour, baking powder and salt.
3) Cover dough and chill for at least 1 hour.
4) Heat oven to 400.
5) On a lightly floured surface, roll dough 1/8″ thick.
6) Cut out cookies and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate as desired.
7) Bake for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are very lighly browned along the edges

With Christmas approaching, I have been searching for a good ginger cookie recipe. Gingerbread is an essential element of Christmas baking, and I wanted to find a cookie that embodies that flavor. My friend Carolyn provided me with this delicious ginger cookie recipe that I will now be adding to my holiday baking rotation.

These ginger cookies are quite easy to make. When I first dropped the balls of dough on the cookie sheet, I wondered how they could possibly end up flat. Since the cookies flatten out quite a bit during baking, it’s good to leave about 2 inches between the balls of dough. The cookies are quite soft when they first come out of the oven, so it helps to leave them on the cookie sheet to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

The consistency of the resulting cookie is perfect. It’s crisp, but not crunchy. The top of the cookie is beautifully crackled, but the inside is still somewhat soft.

Ginger Cookies

Yields 4 dozen cookies

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
3. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the sugar and shortening on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses and vanilla.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients.
5. Roll dough into tsp-sized round balls.
6. Roll dough balls in sugar.
7. Place dough balls on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.