Put It Away
ORGANIZATION AT WORK OR HOME
COOKIES
My husband likes cookies that are crisp and crunchy, while I prefer soft and chewy. Actually, it depends on the cookie and my mood.
Most cookies are baked until crisp, some until just soft, while others are not baked at all. Hundreds of thousands of cookie recipes and variations exist. I will share with you my favorites and I do not do any cooking or baking that is extremely hard or complicated...so these are all easy, cheap, and fast recipes.
Cookie types are basically classified by how they are formed:
Bar Cookies or Squares
These are the quickest and easiest type of cookie to make. Batter or dough is poured or pressed into a pan and cut into cookie-sized pieces after baking. Brownies are the most common example of a batter-type bar cookie.
When I am in a hurry, I will take my Sicker Doodle or Peanut Butter, or Chocolate Chip Cookie, etc. recipes (which are drop cookies) and just press them into a greased, floured pan and cook them that way.
Biscotti
Crisp cookies -- usually containing nuts -- that are baked twice. First the dough is formed into flattened logs, baked, then sliced and baked again until dry and crisp. (I have never made this type of cookie).
Chocolate brownies are a baked and sliced form of rich and dense chocolate cake. They can be either cakey or fudgy depending on their density and sometimes they include nuts, frosting, chocolate or peanut butter chips.
One brownie variation is the blond which is made with no chocolate and/or substitutes in brown sugar.
Easy to make cookie recipes that begin with cake mix.
No time to make your cookies from scratch, but want the same great taste? Try my quick and easy cake mix cookies today.
Cookies from Cake Mixes
Cobblers from Cake Mixes
Blond Brownies with Chocolate Chips
from Cake Mixes
Cut-out or Holiday Cookies
These cookies are often refrigerated before shaping and baking. Gingerbread men and traditional Christmas cutout cookies are good examples of rolled cookies.
The most popular types of cookies, created by dropping cookie dough from a teaspoon or tablespoon onto a prepared cookie sheet. Just mix, drop, bake, and enjoy -- definitely an easy cookie type.
Drop cookie dough varies in texture from quite soft to stiff. When chilled, the dough can be formed into balls and flattened slightly for baking.
During baking, the dough flattens and spreads.
SNICKER DOODLES
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
OATMEAL RAISIN OR CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Mixed-Up COOKIES
Another of the easy types of cookies, no bake cookies are a wonderful way for children to get started cooking. I remember making my first batch of no bake rice crispy squares decades ago at 4-H Club.
Making no bake cookies is a fun way for your children to work on their reading and math (especially adding fractions) skills by following the recipe and measuring ingredients while having fun learning to cook.
PEANUT BUTTER CHEWS
Chocolate (Peanut Butter) No-Bake Cookies
Refrigerator (Ice Box) Cookies
These were originally referred to as "ice box cookies," and are made from stiff dough that is refrigerated and usually formed into a cylinder before slicing and baking.
Some cookbooks categorize refrigerator cookies as sliced cookies. This is another great and easy cookies category.
You can keep a cylinder of cookie dough in the fridge or freezer then slice, bake, and enjoy a warm, fresh from the oven, homemade cookie whenever a cookie craving strikes.
Shaped Cookies and Spritz Cookies
These cookies are shaped by hand or with molds. Shortbread is a classic example of a shaped cookie