It was after dinner on Christmas night and I had a hankering for my daughters' (plural as they both make the best) chocolate chip cookies. Miranda rose to the challenge, literally, and the result was this delicious concoction with just a tinge of red for the holiday.
Big baking advice: do not overcook. It ruins them. I was on oven duty and set the timer for the first batch at 9 minutes; for the second, 9 minutes 15 seconds. Ten mins max or you'll have biscotti not cookies.
Christmas Night (Red) Chippers
2 sticks butter
1 c brown sugar (light)
1/2 c granulated sugar (the normal terrible-for-you white kind)
2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1-1/2 t salt
1-1/2 t vanilla (get the real stuff, not the artificial flavoring kind)
1/4 c dried cranberries (chopped - keep these on hand, great snack)
1/4 walnuts or pecans (chopped - we keep jars of these on the counter for snacks)
1 c chocolate chips (dark preferred - the ones we used were 54% organic chocolate)
1/4 c cocoa
Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with parchment (or silpat sheets). Scoop balls of cookie dough onto sheet, three across, three or four down, depending on size of the sheet. Don't put scoops too close together or they'll run together into cookie-cakes. Bake 9-10 minutes max. Remove when they look nearly done...but not quite. Allow to cool for 5 mins. Take a big plate into the room where everyone else is sitting and watch them disappear.
