Recipe Clubber

I'm a big fan of the whole recipe-a-week "club" thing that Heather (F.) wants to do...so here are mine.

I did two this week. The first one I really can't take much credit for cuz it's a recipe I got from Maxine's website. It's a "lofthouse cookie" recipe, which apparently just means it's a really fluffy sugar cookie. They're really good and really soft. The frosting is originally white frosting, but you know me--I have to chocolate-up things, (they're really good with m&ms).

I made these for our Activity Day. We made cookies and Valentine's for a couple of families in our ward. Pretty fun. Ten year old girls are pretty fun to hang out with cuz they still fear you enough to respect and listen to you and they're still young enough not to care about looking stupid and having fun.

Lofthouse Cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup sour cream
5 1/2 cups flour ( plus more for rolling and making the dough less sticky )

--Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs (one at a time) and sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
--Oven to 350.
--Roll out dough to 1/4-3/8 inch thickness--using as much flour as needed. Cut out shapes and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

--Bake for 8 minutes--turning the pan half-way through.
--Cool on wire racks. Frost and decorate.Lofthouse Cookie Frosting
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 T. milk (cream would probably be really good)
1 tsp. vanilla
And my must-have ingredient...1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted.
*As a side note, you may need to add milk as the frosting sits cuz it thickens up. Just add it a little at a time.

NEXT...

This is just one of THE freakin' best recipes on the planet...period. I could eat the whole thing in two days. Steve even loves this cake and he's not a dessert person.

I made this for our Enrichment Dessert Potluck/Valentine's activity a couple days ago.

Chocolate Heaven

3/4 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 box chocolate cake mix ( I like the dark chocolate or chocolate fudge )
1 sm. box instant chocolate pudding mix
1-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ( I always add on the higher side! )
Powdered sugar to sprinkle

--Oven to 350.
--Beat wet ingredients till mixed thoroughly; add dry and mix. Stir in chocolate chips.
--Place in well greased bundt pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes--till a toothpick comes out with few cooked crumbs.
--While still hot, shimmy out of pan onto a cooking rack. When cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Of course, I had to "test" it first.
Make sure you have a glass of milk nearby!