Mrs. Fields & iVillage 30th Anniversary Cookie Contest (614 photos)

Salty Sweets

Salty Sweets

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together in a bowl: 2 & 3/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt - Wisk to blend dry ingredients together - Set aside
Cream together in mixer 3/4 cup softened butter & 1/2 shortening - Beat until batter lightens
Add 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar to butter mixture
Add 2 eggs to mixture, one at a time
Then add 3 teaspoons vanilla
Add Dry ingredients to butter mixture
Add 2 & 1/3 cups uncooked old fashioned oats
Add 3/4 cup chopped pecans
Last - Add 2 cups chopped Mejool dates (pit/seed removed)

Place a generous rounded tablespoon full of dough on the ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 -16 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on baking rack.

Traverse City Cherry

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Microwave 1 & 1/2 cup dried cherries with water in glass measuring cup water should cover cherries - let plump for 20 minutes. Drain and blot with paper towel
Sift together in a bowl: 2 & 3/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Cream together in Mixer: 1 & 3/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening
Add to butter mixture 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar - Beat until batter lightens
Add 2 eggs to batter - One at a time
Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla
Add the dry flour ingredients - Mix
Addd 2 & 1/3 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
Add 3/4 cup chopped pecans, 1 & 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolatc chips, and the reconstituted dried cherries - Mix
Place a generous, rounded tablespoon of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 - 16 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Yields 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies

These cookies are of my own creation. I am known by my nieces and nephews as the "Cookie aunt". The name was bestowed on me by my niece Kristen. One day, about six years ago, while my niece Kristen was still in college at University of Michigan, I began a cookie baking binge. When it was all over, I had baked five hundred cookies. Since I did not want to consume them, I drove them down to Ann Arbor and delivered them to my niece, Kristen who distributed to students living in her dorm. Henceforth, my reputation as the cookie aunt was established.