Easy Holiday Sugar Cookies drizzled with chocolate and almonds

My little brother was apparently craving some basic sugar cookies last night, so we embarked on a late-night baking session. It was really nice to spend some (though slightly rushed) time with him, and I kept everything super basic as per his instructions.
You see, my little brother is a super exact person who at age ten has the meticulousness which makes him obviously destined for some anal profession such as dentistry or accounting, not to say that's a bad thing or to bash on those highly respectable professions since I'm sure I'll be grateful for his dental services in my old age.

These are just your basic sugar cookies which you can either keep simple or go all out and use the recipe as a base for add-ins such as chocolate kisses and pretzel bits, or frost them. I drizzled the top with chocolate and sprinkled on some chopped almonds.
Either way, this recipe is a super easy one that takes only about 15 minutes total to concoct and is also perfect for tackling wayward cravings.

RECIPE: (from allrecipes.com)
*2 3/4 cups flour
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*1 cup butter
*1 cup sugar
*1 egg
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE AND ALMOND TOPPING:
*3 cups of chocolate chips, melted
*About 1/2 cup of almonds (might be less; that's just a guesstimate), chopped

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2.) Sift together dry ingredients
3.) Soften butter and cream together with sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix in well with the dry ingredients
4.) Roll dough into balls and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden. Set out to cool on wire rack.

5.) When completely cool, drizzle with chocolate and top with almonds.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

This is another one of my treats I make for Synergy, a recycling and volunteering club that meets once a week. The club flyer proclaims that there is food at the meetings, but when I went, there wasn't! So I did my best to remedy that by promptly bringing in pumpkin chocolate chip muffins to the next meeting.

These cookies were born from the mixed occurence of a craving for dark chocolate brownie batter and seeing my dog lick up peanut butter from her toy (one of those rubber thingies you put treats in and your dog tries to lick out.)
The chocolate cookies are absolutely divine on their own and if you're just going to make those, then only bake for 8-9 minutes (these overbake easily); if you're making sandwich cookies you're going to want them a bit drier and more biscuity so bake for 9-10 minutes.

Chocolate. Peanut butter. Heaven. ;p
Enjoy!

RECIPE: (from food.com; makes about 36 cookies)
*1 1/4 cups butter or margarine
*2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup)
*2 large eggs
*2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*2 cups flour
*3/4 cup unsweeted cocoa powder
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*About 1 cup peanut butter
*If you're making these on their own, add nuts or chocolate chips or whatever you want. Have fun with it!

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.) Mix together butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla
3.) Mix in the dry ingredients
4.) Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
5.) Bake for 8-9 minutes being very careful not to overbake; 9-10 minutes if you want them hard and biscuity.
6.) Set cookies out to cool on a wire rack
7.) After cookies are completely cool, place a dollop of peanut butter on the center of a cookie, top with another cookie and press down lightly to form an oreo-like sandwich!

Best basic chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are such a perennial favorite and American classic, possibly one of my favorite desserts. There's just something about a cookie fresh from the oven, with little pockets of chocolatey perfection embedded in the buttery dough. They are also very hard to stop eating once you've started.
I've been making these cookies for a while now, and have found the recipe to be nearly perfect. They are a definite crowd pleaser and a family favorite, and I always make them for my little brother's teachers.

Also another great (though guilty) thing about chocolate chip cookies:

The dough! Frozen cookie dough? Such a comfort food, and always great to have on hand for a quick guilt trip or for the kids to make themselves.

RECIPE: (Batch of 4 dozen cookies)
*1 cup butter, softened
*1 cup white sugar (I usually use half a cup)
*1 cup packed brown sugar
*2 eggs
*2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*3 cups all-purpose flour
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*2 teaspoons hot water
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*2 cups chocolate chips (To really get it mixed well and have chocolate chips in every bite, I like to add an extra 1/2 cup)
* 1 cup walnuts (I substituted macadamian nuts because I like them better)

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
2.) Cream together butter and sugar
3.) Beat eggs and stir in with vanilla
4.) Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add in with eggs and vanilla
5.) Whisk in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts
6.) Dollop onto ungreased pans
7.) Bake for about 10 minutes or until cookies are nicely brown around the edges