Betty Who?

I saw a post today that said 16 shopping days til Christmas and panicked.  A little.  We're planning on taking the kids to Mexico in February and they were warned that we are scaling back this Christmas. I think they know what that means but I don't think they GET what that means.  That's ok.  They will.

Still, scaling back doesn't mean that I can't/won't do the plethora of baking I do every year.  Or most years anyhow.  I mean, I always do SOME baking, but not always at the same level every year.  This year, since I  volunteered to bring 5-6 dozen cookies for the production of "The Gospel According to Scrooge" at church this year, I thought I would do my version of the 12 days of Christmas...in cookies/treats that I do around Christmas.  Oh, you might occasionally see some of these varieties around my house during the rest of the year, but almost always these will be present at Christmas.

Today's cookie:  Chocolate Crinkles.  Most of my cookies have a story and this one is no different.  I don't remember the exact year that these became a family cookie but I do remember that we were living at Andrews AFB so it had to be sometime between 1970-1974.  My mom was not really a big cookie person as I don't remember her ever making cookies, just to make cookies.  UNTIL she came into the possession of the Betty Crocker "Cooky Cookbook" (yes, that's with a Y), which, what is left of it is now in my possession (and you know it's 9/10th of the law right?).  After what is probably about 40 years (or so...no need to get REALLY specific), this is what is left of it:

 You have undoubtedly noted the lack of a hard cover.  Yes, alas it is gone.  Not sure when the last part of it fell off and was discarded but it's gone.  This is still my "go to" book for most cookies.  To the point where I have started to write notes in the margin of the book so that I can remember what has worked for me (yes, go ahead and say it, I AM that old).  See (and note, this is the Snickerdoodle recipe I use):

Onto the actual recipe:
4 oz unsweetened chocolate 
1/2 cup vegetable oil (LOL...who uses that anymore?  Canola is fine)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup SIFTED confectioners (powdered) sugar
Melt chocolate with oil (I do this in 30 second increments in the microwave so as not to scorch the chocolate).  Stir til chocolate is completely melted then add 2 cups sugar.  Stir and add 4 eggs and vanilla.  The batter will look like this:

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and add to dough.  Now it will look like this:

Refrigerate the batter for several hours.  I suggest making these in the evening and let refrigerate overnight.  You want the dough to be VERY stiff. It will look like this after refrigerated:

But that's because I live in the Minnesota tundra and I put the dough on the deck to chill.  Most people don't have this "advantage" (if you're lucky) so I suggest overnight.  At any rate, I use the smallest Pampered Chef scoop (which of course isn't marked but I think it is a 1 Tbs scoop) and roll into balls and place on a plate with sifted powdered sugar:

Then roll them around until they are completely coated with sugar:

Then place them on an ungreased cookie sheet (if you don't yet have them, PLEASE, pretty please with sifted powdered sugar on top, go to Sams and buy the double set of heavy aluminum 10x15 jelly roll pans.  I promise you will NOT be sorry) about 2 inches apart.  I easily fit 15 on each sheet:

Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes.  I think my oven is a little off because I think 12 minutes is perfect but this time they seemed to need a bit longer.  They will be all puffed up when they come out of the oven, then they will settle a little.

With the end result being this:

Your kids will think you a rock star.  Their friends will want YOU as their mom just so they can have these delicious mouth watering bites of heaven.  This makes about 5 dozen (I actually ended up with 59 and NO, I do NOT eat cookie dough).


They call me Crocker...Betty Crocker.