Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip Cookies to Save Money

Alea at Premeditated Leftovers is having a Real Food Deals Food Carnival every Wednesday. Anyone with money saving tips, coupons, or how to stretch a dollar making "real" food, feel free to post to her blog. Click on the link for details.

Although, it's tough to call cookies "real" food, everyone gets the urge to eat sweets every now and then. Instead of going to the store and buying a package of cookies, just make your own. I know the Keebler Elves are adorable (or creepy) but they cost a fortune and the quality is poor. Cookies take hardly any time to bake and, in my opinion, are difficult to mess up. I made snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies in the last few weeks. I didn't use complicated recipes with expensive ingredients. The chocolate chip cookie recipe is from Nestle. I've tried several recipes and for some reason, this is still my favorite one. The snickerdoodles are from allrecipes.com. I chose a recipe that didn't call for shortening, since I want to avoid eating shortening as much as I can.

Snickerdoodle Recipe

Original Recipe 

Serving Size = 4 dozen (I had less though)

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (Leave out?)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

*Note: I've been hearing bad things about cream of tartar. I've read that it can be omitted in this recipe, so I will try that next time. Any thoughts?

Preheat oven to 400F

1. Combine 1 1/2 cup white sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
2. In a separate bowl combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Slowly blend this mixture into the white, butter, vanilla and eggs mixture.
3. On a small place combine 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. 
4. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll into the sugar/cinnamon. Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until set. Remove from cookie sheet immediately.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

Original Recipe

Serving Size = 5 dozen (I had around 3 dozen)

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F

1. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl, mix. 
2. Beat the butter, both sugars and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. 
3. Drop 1 rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, cool for 2 minutes and remove cookies from cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.