Cookie Secrets From Your Favorite Cookie Stand

Happy Monday! Well...not really secrets, since they printed a cookbook. Mrs. Fields; Great American Cookie Company - they make deliciously soft cookies at the malls around America (though I fear what happens behind the scenes). The other day, on a shopping trip with my mom, we stopped for an M&M cookie, one of my childhood faves. I began to reminisce about the yummy cookies of yester-year, and I remembered that I'd inherited a Mrs. Fields Cookie Book years ago! That book brought back memories of my childhood, memories of when baking started coursing through my veins. So as a tribute to my childhood happiness, here are a few recipes from that cookbook!

Debbi's drop cookies...
Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 C dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1 C salted butter, softened (Lizzy Bee's Note: Knowadays, most recipes call for unsalted - that's fine too! Salted butter, plus salt in the recipe, is a lot of salt!)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 C (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F).
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with a whisk. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix at medium speed until just blended. Do not overmix.
4. Add flour and chocolate chips, and blend at low speed until just mixed. Do not overmix.
5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 22-24 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula. 

Debbi's fancy cookies...

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen 

Ingredients

Shortbread:

• 1 C salted butter, softened
• 3/4 C light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 C AP flour

Topping:

• 1 T salted butter
• 1 C (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 C (4 oz) pecans, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed. Scrape down sides of bowl. Then add vanilla and flour, and blend thoroughly on low speed.
3. Shape level tablespoonfuls of dough into 1-in balls, then form into logs 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. Place on ungreased baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
4. Bake 17-19 minutes, or until cookies spread and turn a light golden brown. Transfer to a cool, flat surface. 

To make topping:

1. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler over hot (not boiling...Lizzy Bee's Note: Simmering) water or in a microwave oven on high power. Stir chocolate every 30 seconds until melted.
2. Dip top of each cooled shortbread cookie into melted chocolate, then into chopped pecans. Place cookies on waxed paper and refrigerate to set.

Happy baking!