Brown Melvins

These were invented by my brother Isaac during a cookie adventure where he was making all of us sisters laugh by messing with the recipe. If you've got a wickedly wonderful sense of humor, secretly drop a raisin into the mix when no one's looking. (I was Isaac's accomplice in this dastardly deed...but I was the one who ended up biting into that sneaky raisined cookie).
Get ready for amazing deliciousness!


Brown Melvins
printable version


1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp mint flavor (optional)
1/3 large banana
2 1/2 cups flour
~1/4 cup Mint Truffle cocoa drink mix
1 package semisweet chocolate chips
1 raisin (be secret about it)

Preheat oven to 375*.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy.
Add baking soda and salt, eggs, vanilla, mint and banana. Mix well.
Stir in flour and cocoa mix.
Stir in chocolate chips (and the raisin).

Bake 8-9 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet.
Cookies should be pretty brown-- this doesn't mean they're burned.

You can come up with a prize/chore for whoever finds the raisin! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the perfect texture for a cookie; they have a gently crisp outside just right for dipping in milk (the way my husband likes them) and a soft, chewy inside the way I like them. They also reheat well, just 8-10 seconds in the microwave for ~3 cookies, for the comfort of hot cookies with your milk. Mmm.
And I feel less guilty knowing there's oatmeal in them.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

printable version

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups quick oats

1/2 package chocolate chips (or full package for double the fun...that's my style)

Preheat oven to 350*.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar and sugar until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

Add flour mixture to sugars and mix well. 

Stir in oats and chocolate chips. 

Drop in little rounds onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes and cool 1 minute on cookie sheet. 

Makes nearly 5 dozen.

(For bar cookies: bake 30-35 minutes in ungreased 9x13 metal baking pan) 

No-Bake Cookies

Woops, we ate them all before taking a picture!

No Bake Cookies
printable version


2 cups sugar
3 TBS cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups quick oats
(1 cup chopped nuts optional)

In medium saucepan, combine sugar and cocoa. Mix well. Add milk, mix well on medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Mix well until thickened, and drop cookies by spoonfuls (I use a TBS measure for the perfect size--cookie scoops are the same) onto cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap or tinfoil. For quicker cooling, place in freezer. When completely cooled, store in airtight container.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

(I love these stackable racks! Sorry the frosting is sort of an unappetizing peachy color...we wanted something different from the typical, and with all those colors in the rainbow to choose from, we thought this was a good idea. Well at least it doesn't taste different from pink frosting.)

I have a teensy (pretty unexciting) confession...I have always really liked store-bought sugar cookies. Mmm, they're the perfect texture, the perfect flavor. I have a hard time not eating too many at once, to say the least.

And the other half of my confession: I have always really hated homemade sugar cookies. Seriously. They're gross. They're pretty much ALWAYS too hard, crunchy in a bland way, and just plain stupid. Cookies should be yummy.

*ahem*

So now I have some repenting to do, because apparently all those poor people making sugar cookies either liked them that way or didn't have the right recipe. As part of my repenting process, I'm sharing The Right Recipe. It's as good as storebought. :D (Who says that when sharing recipes?)

(And sure, it's probably better...if you care...)

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

(from Michael's family)

printable version

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup margarine (or shortening)

1/2 cup butter

Cream first three ingredients together. Now add:

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream (~8 oz.)

5 cups flour (with high altitude, you may need more)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Roll dough onto a floured surface--remember to flour the rolling pin and your hands, too. :)

Spread dough to about...1/2" thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters or a small cup...place on ungreased cookie sheet.

This is a dough that works fine with re-rolling the scraps. I used every last bit!

Bake 10 - 12 minutes at 350*.

Michael and I don't think they're quite perfect until they've got some FROSTING on them.

And then they're so perfect that I hog the whole tupperware of 60+ cookies to myself (like right now--I'm NOT lying--the tupperware of cookies is in my lap. There are 10 left. Ender started to eat one and decided he didn't like having frosting on his hands. Michael has eaten, oh, something like 6 or 8 cookies. And I haven't given any to the neighbors yet...I keep telling myself I should...really, no wonder I'm not losing inches at my waistline...)

Wow. That's embarrassing. 60+ cookies? Where have they gone?!