The Cookie Baking has begun! The first batch of peanut butter/cracker/chocolate cookies had to be made before I could do anything else. It’s not really baking. It’s just assembling and dipping and making a HUGE mess of the kitchen. But H and J absolutely love them and I only make them once a year. This year I also did a batch with chocolate graham crackers/marshmallow creme/white chocolate for H’s friend who can’t eat peanuts. (I know, it’s so sad).

Then I made a batch of Karen’s “World’s best chocolate chip cookies”. They really are great. And if you have a stand mixer, pretty easy. Actually easier and less mess than the non-baked peanut butter things I made first. Here’s the recipe:

THE WORLD’S BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 packed cup light brown sugar
2 t-spoons vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour
1 t-spoon baking soda
1 t-spoon salt
24 oz. bag of milk chocolate (not semi-sweet) chips
2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large bowl, beat together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until well blended.

2) In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. Mix in chocolate and pecans. Mixture will be very hard to stir. (I have broken a couple of wooden spoons stirring it.)

3) Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop batter onto greased cookie sheets, allowing 3 inches between cookies. Bake 14 minutes. (I use a convection oven. Timing will probably be different in a regular oven.) Let cookies cool for a couple of minutes before removing them from the cookie sheets.

(I omitted the pecans per J’s request, but if you like pecans they’re great that way. I also added about a cup of butterscotch chips, and a few less chocolate chips.)

YUMMY!