Since we have some plans for this morning, we’re going to have a bit of a late night cookie-making party in our pajamas. It’s time to make a few of our classic family recipes: Santa Baby Cookies & Cookie Meteors.

Here are reprints of those recipes:

Santa Babies

Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients

1 c unsalted butter, softened
1.5 c brown sugar
.5 c granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
1 c oats
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 skor bars, crushed
OR
.5 – 1 c toffee bits
1 c flaked coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
1 c chopped pecans

Method

Heat oven to 350f.
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until creamy.
Separately, mix flour, salt and baking soda.
Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Separately, mix chocolate chips, toffee bits, oatmeal, coconut and pecans.
Add these mixins to the cookie batter, mixing first by machine, then, fully incorporating with spatula.
This dough is very stiff and bursting with mixins.
Drop 1-2 tbs of dough 2 inches apart on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes.

Cookie Meteors
makes 16 large or 32 smaller cookies

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet or dark
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1.5-2 tsp vanilla
1 additional cup of semi-sweet, dark, or milk-chocolate chips or chunks
1/2-1 cup walnuts, pecans, white chocolate chips or other mix-ins (holiday mint M&M’s are always a hit.)

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
In a high-heat-friendly glass bowl set 0ver a pot of boiling water, melt the butter, the first cup of chocolate chips, and the chopped unsweetened chocolate.
Set the bowl aside to cool for a few mintues OR transfer the melted chocolate mixture to another mixing bowl.
Add the sugar, flour, and baking powder to the chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. The mixture will now look thick and slightly grainy.
Stop to test that the mixture is cool enough, at this point, to add eggs without scrambling them and chocolate chips without melting them. It might be hard to leave things at this stage, but better to be careful than to have to start over.
Once the mixture is relatively cool, add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla. The mixture will now begin to shine.
Add your additional 1 cup of chocoalte chips and your 1/2 – 1 cup of white chocolate chips (or other mix-in).
Using a large tablespoon, drop large dollops of the cookie dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. (Use a teaspoon if you’d like to make smaller cookies.)
Bake for 7-12 minutes, until the cookie looks shiny but not dark/wet in the middle. It will still be a little soft to the touch, though. Don’t overbake!
Carefully move the parchment or silpat of cookies onto a wire rack. Cool for as long as you can before sampling!
______________________
Quick Links for Mobile Users
Summer of Funner : The Lunchbox Season : In Defense of Burning