Nuts and Bolts:

I am a Gen X’er who was a latch key kid who remembers fondly of coming home from school and making cookies or cakes from the recipe on the back of the packages. I loved getting recipes from packages. We used recipes from Cuisinart or GE. We used to say they were some of our favorite recipes.

Today, we still get recipe books with new appliances, but with the internet, it just does not have the same appeal. Most kitchen gadgets barely come with an instruction book, let alone recipes. If there is a problem, just go to the internet for the answers.

Recently, I ordered the Vigilant Dragon Cookie Jar from  Camlamityware. I love that jar, and it has an awesome seal, which means it keeps homemade cookies fresh for weeks. But one of the things I love best is that it came with recipes. One of them was the chocolate chip snowballs, and it has become one of my favorite cookies.

My thoughts on Chocolate Chip Snowballs:

1. It only takes five ingredients to make the cookie.

2. It is a great way to use up leftover powdered sugar. 

3. It is not a very sweet cookie, which I like because sometimes I feel cookies are too sweet. Since they are not very sweet, they pair well with any type of tea or coffee.

4.   If you like a sweeter cookie, you can decorate it with melted chocolate.

Method:

I start my day if I am baking by pulling out what I need from the fridge when I get up in the morning. I literally pull out pounds of butter. Most would question this, but in my house, it just a baking day. So, when a recipe tells you to soften butter, it means butter that has come to room temperature to be soft enough to cream with sugar. 

To start the recipe, you need: 1 cup of softener butter, ½ cup of powdered sugar, one teaspoon of vanilla extract, two cups of flour, and 1 ½ cup of chocolate chips.

Important tip: Vanilla extract can be costly, but it is an excellent ingredient to splurge on because it is used in many recipes. In countless baked goods, vanilla extract gives the dough its flavor. That is why I buy the most flavorful one I get my hands on because it is worth it. Also, it lasts a long time in the cupboard.

I preheat my oven to 350oF. Then, I put the softened butter and power sugar in my stand mixer bowl with a paddle attachment. I start the mixer at a slow speed and gradually bring it up to a higher speed; that way, I am not covered in powder sugar. Once the butter and sugar are creamed together, I add the vanilla, followed by the flour. When it is all incorporated, then I add the chocolate chips to the bowl and mix them in at a medium speed. This dough can be a little piecemeal, but it will come together.

I like to use a small cookie scoop for this recipe. It will yield a lot of small cookies. I like just to scoop and drop the cookies by cleaning off the edges. This way, the cookies have to have a tail to look like amoebas. But if you like a clean rounded cookie., you need to scoop the cookie and smooth off the excess dough and then drop them on the tray. When they are dished out onto the cookie sheets, bake them for about 10-12 minutes or golden brown. Allow them to cool on the trays for 5 minutes. You can dip them in melted chocolate, or you can pipe on melted chocolate.

Final Thought:

I love these cookies because they are small and go well with any hot drink. Also, they easy and quick to make, and they can be dressed up for a holiday cookie platter. So try them in your mess!

Calamityware’s Chocolate Snowball Cookie

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Mix softened butter with powdered sugar using a stand mixer with the paddle until they are well blended. Add vanilla and mix. Next, add the flour and mix until everything is incorporated. Lastly, add the chocolate chips and mix until well- dispersed through the batter.

Use a cookie scoop to shape the snowballs and place the rounded ball of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the bottom of the cookies begin to brown slightly. Remove from oven and let them rest on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to finish cooling

For an extra special cookie:

Melt a 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Either dip the top of the cookie into the chocolate or pipe on melted chocolate. . To pipe the chocolate, fill a zip-top bag with chocolate and snip a small corner off the end of the bag to decorate the cookies.

https://calamityware.com/blogs/news/need-a-cookie-to-go-with-that-plate