Happy New Year, here's a cookie recipe!

When my sister was in college, and I was in law school, I would bake her huge batches of cookies and overnight them to her during her midterms and finals. I wasn’t kidding when I said that my mother never baked. The only reason my little sister got care packages at all was because of me and my love of baking. When I was in college, my dad would send me care packages. I think he felt bad that I didn’t get normal care packages like all the other students, but I loved my dad’s care packages. They were full of amazing things, like CD’s I wanted, jewelry, exotic candies and coffees from World Market. It was better than cookies!

But my sister, she and her friends went NUTS for these cookies, so I sent them to her whenever she was in dire need. They are so good. They are definitely more of a dark chocolate flavor, and please be sure to put a piece of fresh bread in with your cookies when you store them so that they stay nice and moist. They are a denser, cake-like cookie, so don’t freak out if they don’t spread much, they shouldn’t! I haven’t made these in forever, but it’s the recipe I have always used. This makes a crazy-ton of cookies, but it’s easy to half the recipe for a more manageable amount. And please note the dough needs to be refrigerated overnight so plan ahead!

Chocolate Crinkles

Yield: 6 to 8 dozen

2 cups chocolate chips

¾ cup of butter (1 ½ stick)

2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups of flour (not sifted)

½ cup powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips with butter in microwave for 45sec.-1 minute, remove and stir until chocolate chips are melted. (Chocolate retains its shape even when heated, so keep checking it and stirring it to check the consistency. Do not burn the chocolate! If you start to see the oil and chocolate separate, it’s burned so start over.)

Mix in sugar and allow to completely cool. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour and mix well. Chill dough overnight.

When dough is ready, preheat oven to 350º. Roll dough into walnut-sized balls with your hands. (Put powdered sugar on your hands to ensure the dough will not stick to your hands) Drop the balls into a bowl of powdered sugar and roll around until completely coated. Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet. Do not flatten, they will flatten out a little in the oven. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

(Note: the dough tends to warm up while you’re working and then the cookies will flatten too much while baking, so in between sheets of cookies, be sure to put the dough back in the refrigerator to maintain the stiffer dough).

After removing cookies, allow to cool on sheet for 1-2 minutes and then place on wire rack. Store in airtight container. Cookies will have a “cracked” look to them.

Yummy…..enjoy!