Have posted this recipe before, but sometimes it's good to remember recipes that have become classics. I first tried this one back in the 1970s. My mother-in-law gave me a subscription to Sunset Magazine for Christmas when I first moved to California. It really helped me get acclimated to the differences between here and the East Coast where I came from. One of the recipes that appealed to me was this one for super-sized cookies that get broken or cut apart for party food. Kids love them, so they became a favorite substitute for a birthday cake...you still have colorful toppings and some confectioners sugar icing...and they are far easier to make than a regular birthday cake or a bunch of cupcakes.
Today I brought one of the two that I baked yesterday to a gathering of women friends and they enjoyed it, too. One of the nice things is that you can break off a small piece or a larger one, depending on how much sweet treat you want, or you can go back for another piece, or both.
This is an easy recipe to make. It's basically a chocolate chip cookie recipe with the addition of some oatmeal.
The typical cookie is two cups of the batter, baked on a foil lined pizza pan - the foil needs to be sprayed with baking spray so that you can easily remove it once baked and cooled.
I shaped my dough into a heart shape for each cookie, sprinkled on mini-M&Ms, baked the cookies, cooled them, than decorated them with confectioner's sugar icing and both colorful sprinkles and yellow-gold sanding sugar. A neighboring family got the other one as a thank you for helping us out.
Sweetie loves raw cookie dough, so he helped out by eating some that didn't get baked.
Big Heart Party Cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup quick rolled oats
2 cups (12-oz. package) semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
½ cup dried fruit (I used dark cherries)
For circle or heart shaped cookie:
1 cup M & M candies in appropriate colors (optional but fun)
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons hot milk
Assorted cake decorations such as dragees, colored sugar, colored small shapes, chopped nuts, sprinkles
Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape bowl and beaters. Gradually beat in flour and beat until mixed. Beat in oatmeal. Mixture will be stiff. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
Line a 12” pizza pan or baking sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray. For a big circle cookie if using the pizza pan, put 2 cups of the dough on the foil. Using floured fingers, shape dough into desired shape, either circle or heart. Smaller hearts on baking sheets use 1 cup dough each. Exaggerate the shape since cookie will spread. You can fit two smaller hearts per pan. Sprinkle M&Ms over dough shape and pat lightly into dough, if using.
Bake one sheet at a time in middle of oven for 10 - 18 minutes (depending on the size of the cookie) until golden brown. Let sit on sheet for 10 minutes, then slide shape on foil onto a cooling rack. Continue to bake the rest of the dough. You can make regular drop cookies with the remainder of the batter if desired.
Once the cookie has cooled, if you like you can decorate for a party! Mix the confectioners sugar and milk and drizzle over the cookie in a random pattern. If you like you can color the icing. While it is still wet, sprinkle cake decorations over as desired.
Put decorated cookies on party platter and serve. Pieces can be broken off or you can cut it into portions.
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