Tasty Tuesday - cookies and brownies

Last Monday we were invited to Alan's boss's house for a cook - out/ swimming/ Family Home Evening. Marci asked me to bring the dessert. Since we would be outside I thought I should make a finger food type dessert and to really impress - I should make more than one. So I made my very favorite chocolate chip cookie. This recipe is supposed to be the famous Neiman Marcus cookie recipe or I have heard it also described as the Mrs. Fields cookie recipe. I have read those recipes and they are very different from this. If you follow the directions and don't try and skip any steps they will always turn out perfect.

Million Dollar Cookie

ingredients:
2 sticks room temperature butter (not margarine and definitely not shortening)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats (blended in blender to flour consistency)
10 oz. chocolate chips

directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs; beat. Add soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla; beat. Add remaining ingredients. Shape into ping-pong size balls. Bake 8 - 9 minutes


Last month I played Bunko at Kelly B's famous house. She served lots of lovely food that night - but I almost cried tears of joy and delight when I tasted her yummy brownies. They were so fudgy delicious! Kelly told me that they were from Paula Dean so I knew they had to be full of butter and so bad for me. Lucky for me - I didn't have to hunt down the recipe because Kelly posted it here on her blog. These things are so delicious - and even better served cold.

To cancel out the pound of butter that I used in the brownies - I also made my famous friend Nicole's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I used applesauce instead of butter in these - so they are fat free! Plus pumpkin is a vegetable right? So it is almost like you are not even eating cookies but instead getting your five a day!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup applesauce (or 1 stick of butter if you feel naughty)
2 cups pumpkin puree ( I love saying puree - it is an exclamation in French - like Dang it!)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
10 oz chocolate chips ( I used the mini-chocolate chips - because when they are smaller it seems more like diet food)

directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together in mixer. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. Form dough into ping-pong sized balls (or use a cookie scoop) and bake for 10 - 12 minutes. They will not spread out - you will think they are not done - don't put them back in!