Who doesn’t love cookies? Boxed cookies are great, but making them at home gets your house smelling amazing, and it’s a fun way to get the kids involved in the kitchen. Making your own cookies also allows you to experiment and substitute different flavors, and they make great gifts for family, friends, and coworkers! Do you need any more reasons to march into the kitchen right now and bake a batch of cookies?
Chocolate chip cookies can be as basic or as complicated as you want them to be. There have been entire studies done on the optimal ingredients for the desired consistency and flavor. Experiment a bit until you perfect the perfect chocolate chip cookie for you! Food Network has an excellent breakdown on brown versus granulated sugar, chilling the dough, what temperature they’re cooked at, oil versus butter, and even which type of flour is used! It’s a whole science. Delicious science!
Oatmeal cookies are also amazing! Basic oatmeal cookies have yummy chewy raisins, but there are tons of recipes out there that use different dried fruits. By making your own, you can add your favorite flavors and control the amount of sugar going into them. Oatmeal cookies are a bit healthier than their chocolate chip counterparts, but you can add chocolate chips to oatmeal cookies for a cookie combo you’re sure to love!
Are you looking to add a little color and fun into your cookie repertoire? With a sugar cookie recipe that holds its shape and a few crushed jolly ranchers, you can make stained glass cookies! These are so fun for the holidays but are amazing any time of year. Choose your cookie base carefully, ensuring they won’t rise. Roll the dough out and get two cookie cutters that are the same shape but different sizes. Stars and hearts work very well. Cut the larger shape out first, then the smaller ones out of the middle. Add your jolly rancher crumbles and bake them up! Not only are they gorgeous and edible, but you can also use them as window decorations or hang them on a tree!
Thumbprint cookies are another cookie that looks and tastes fantastic and is easy to tailor! These are shortbread cookies that have a “thumbprint” divot in the middle, allowing you to add all sorts of different jams and chocolates for a unique twist. Don’t stop at sweets, though. Savory can also be amazing. Bacon jam is delicious and is perfect for a fun twist! You can even add soft cheeses or flavored cream cheese for an “oh, wow” moment.
Now that you have some fun ideas, it’s time to get baking. Don’t forget the number one rule of baking cookies: Make a few extra for yourself and hide them away. There’s nothing sadder than spending hours baking cookies and going to get one and discovering they’ve all “mysteriously” disappeared. It happens more than you’d think!
