Let's Eat : Kenny's Cookies

Sometimes you have a recipe that's a real treasure. It's easy, consistently delicious, versatile and everybody loves it. If you're lucky, the recipe has a history and brings back memories whenever you make it.

Kenny's Cookies is "that recipe" for me. Hand-written on two index cards with post-it notes pasted all around it in an old-style sticky-page photo album, this is my go-to cookie recipe. I got it from a friend (that was Kenny -- surprise) years and years ago, probably in the late 80's.

Here's the recipe, along with my tips:

Kenny's Cookies

• 1 lb butter, softened
• 2 C brown sugar
• 1 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 3 eggs (2 eggs for a half-recipe)
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 1/2 t salt (optional)
• 6 C all-purpose flour, or use a combination of white whole wheat and AP flours
• 2 12-oz bags chocolate chips
• 2 C nuts (optional)
• 1 handful coconut

1. Cream butter and sugars.
2. Add eggs, vanilla, soda and salt.
3. Add flour, 1 cup at a time.
4. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and coconut.
5. You can make these very large (golf-ball sized spoonfuls) or smaller (I use a medium cookie scoop). Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. If you prefer a soft cookie, remove from oven when just starting to brown on the edges. They're also good when a little more brown, but they won't be as soft.

It's easy to get creative with these -- there are about 6 cups of add-ins, which can really be any combination of chips, nuts, seeds, oatmeal, dried fruit...whatever you like. The coconut can be omitted, but it's really good if you like coconut!

This recipe makes a lot of cookies (the exact number varies depending on size) so if you don't need them all, shape the dough and freeze it to bake later. They just bake a minute or two longer, straight from the freezer. You'll be delighted when you need to bake a couple dozen cookies in a hurry! A half-recipe works just fine too, using 2 eggs as noted above...but I usually make the full batch of dough.

These are still warm...

For Christmas, I like to use a combination of dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, and sometimes add walnuts or pecans. They're pretty without having any food color, and make great gifts too.

Ironically, in recent years Kenny has trained for and completed an Ironman triathlon, and cookies like this may not be in his training diet. I suspect he wouldn't even remember giving me this recipe. But every time I pull out the old recipe album, I think of good friends and casual get-togethers...before grown-up responsibilities and kids had really settled in...and I'm glad the taste of a cookie can bring that back for a few minutes!