Monday, November 23, 2009

My Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipe

ACU's, Stiletto Shoes, and Pretty Pink Tutus is hosting a Cookie Recipe Swap as part of her Merry Mommies Christmas Carnival. She has a yummy recipe for sugar cookies that can be used to make three different types of cookies. I have a recipe in my little recipe box that I ripped out of a Family Circle magazine when I was in high school (back in the 1990s). My mother had subscribed to the magazine and I would often flip through it at breakfast, not because I cared about recipes, how to effectively clean windows, or how to redecorate a room, but just because I have always read at the table at breakfast. I am a true bibliophile. I will read anything and everything (even if it is just the back of the cereal box).

For the last several elections, Family Circle has asked the spouses of the presidential nominees to share their favorite cookie recipes. The readers of the magazine would then choose the winner of the bake-off. The winner's husband has for the last several elections, made it into the White House (until last year when Cindy McCain won but it was Michelle Obama's husband who won the election). One morning I stumbled across the recipe submitted by Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush. Hillary Clinton's chocolate chip cookie recipe was made using rolled oats. It sounded yummy so I ripped out the recipe and made them one weekend. They were the best cookies I ever had. They were even better than my grandmother's recipe, which is saying something. They were chewy yet slightly crisp on the outside and chocolatey with a buttery finish. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. That recipe, ripped from a magazine and glued to an index card traveled with me to college, my first apartment, and to the home I now share with my husband. It's a little yellow around the edges and stained with debris from my cooking forays but I pull it out for holidays and when I get a craving that only these cookies can satisfy.

These cookies are a delightful comfort food but also a perfect holiday cookie because they are loved by almost everyone. They always get devoured when I put them out for gatherings.

This recipe is NOT my own and has been published numerous times in magazines and online.

Hillary Clinton's Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (unsifted)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or 1 12 oz. bag)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Beat together shortening, sugars and vanilla in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs, beating until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture and rolled oats. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop a teaspoonsful of batter on to cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Cool cookies on sheets on wire rack for 2 minutes. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for that one! I just made the standard Toll House recipe 2 days ago and was thinking that it is really time for a change.

Mrs. G.I. Joe said...

Thanks for posting a recipe! I LOVE chocolate chip cookies and also usually cheat on those by using Toll House. I'll definitely be trying this out soon :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Susie Buetow said...

Yummy!!! Come link up in our Holiday Recipe Exchange & win a 700 Recipe Cookbook! http://bit.ly/cOOkBook

Diabetic Cookies said...

Sounds lovely, American cookies are always so much more moist than the traditional cookies we have here in the UK, must be the rolled oats. Baking cookies is a great way to keep the kids entertained at Christmas time.

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