Baking Gals - Devil's Food Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple weeks ago, I joined the webgroup at bakinggals.com .  This is a program where teams are formed and each team is assigned a soldier. Each member of the team bakes as many items as they want, and mails them to the assigned soldier. I think it's a great idea to keep our troops' spirits up. There are about 10 people on my team, so hopefully our soldier will get more than enough goodies! For my package, I decided to make two types of cookies, one traditional and a modified original. Altogether, I made about 100 cookies.

Devil's Food Peanut Butter Cookies

originally from Allrecipes.com, submitted by Deanna Storz

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup shortening

1 package devil's food cake mix

2 cups peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla, and shortening with 1/2 of the cake mix until light and fluffy.  Mix in the remaining cake mix and the peanut butter chips. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons, 2 inches

 apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes in preheated oven. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Modifications:

1. I didn't have shortening, so I used butter instead.

2. I thought I had peanut butter chips, but it turned out I didn't, so I used chocolate chips.

3. In my oven, 10 minutes was too long. I baked them for about 9 minutes so they didn't burn.

Review:

These cookies are really easy to make, and have few ingredients. For how quick they take, they are really delicious! I only hope our soldier will like them, too! 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, Bridal Edition

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening and butter with an electronic mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and baking soda.  Beat until mixture is combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 - 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Modifications:

1. Instead of shortening, I used butter.

Review:

After I mixed all of the ingredients, I was a little skeptical about these cookies. The mix wasn't very doughy, so I didn't think it would come out 

that great. Despite my reservations, they came out really well. They actually look a little like store-bought as opposed to homemade though!