Cookie Table Recipes

In Pittsburgh, it's a big tradition to have a "cookie table" at your wedding. Basically, you ask guests to bring a few dozen of their favorite cookies. Everyone snacks on them during the reception and then brings the rest home. When Adam and I were pondering what to bake, we asked Steve what his two favorite kinds of cookies were, and no surprise here, they were his mom's {the queen of cookies} recipes.

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

2/3 cup baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

12 ounces white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla  in large bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yields 5 dozen cookies. {I think they are especially delicious after being refrigerated, but I think all baked goods are better cold. Is that weird?}

Jam Thumbprints

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

Strawberry jam 

Directions:

1. Refrigerate dough 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Work with only 1/4 of dough at a time, keep remaining refrigerated.

2. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

3. Using your thumb, make a depression in center of each ball. Bake 10 minutes.

4. Remove cookies from oven. Make depression again. Fill depression with 1/4 teaspoon jam and return to oven to bake 5 more minutes.

5. Cool on wire rack. Makes about four dozen. 

The best part about baking these cookies {besides eating them, of course} was breaking out my Kitchen Aid mixer for the first time!