As winter slowly nears the holiday season spirit starts to grow, and with it, students’ appetite and love for warm cookies. Josh Borger Germann ’25 and Charlie Firmstone ’25 asked students at City High their favorite cookies and recipes and how they made them. 

“[My] top 3 cookies are Chocolate Chip, Peanut butter, [and] Monster Cookies,” said Ramy Makawi ‘26.

Many of the students had similar tastes, following the pattern of something sweet and chocolatey. 

“[My top 3 are] chocolate Chip, Sugar cookies, and Peanut Butter,” said Johannes Boevers ‘23. 

The recipes for these cookie favorites are below.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies by Betty Crocker.

Ingredients

•  2 ¼ cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts, if desired

The instructions for these delicious cookies are as follows

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with a spoon for about 1 minute or until fluffy, scraping the side of the bowl occasionally.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour mixture just until blended (dough will be stiff). Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
4. Onto ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool for 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store covered in an airtight container.

The next recipe was for the peanut butter cookies called Classic Peanut Butter Cookies by King Arthur Baking. You can achieve these cookies by following the recipe below.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup (57g) vegetable shortening or 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, for softer cookies
• 1/2 cup (99g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (106g) light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon King Arthur Pure Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 cup (198g) peanut butter*
• 1 1/2 cups (180g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

• Beat together the shortening or butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter until smooth.

• Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the peanut-butter mixture, beating gently until everything is well combined. It may take a while for this rather dry dough to come together; and when it does, it’ll be quite stiff. Only if necessary, drizzle in enough water to make the dough cohesive.

• Drop the cookie dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here), leaving 2″ between them.

• Use a fork to flatten each cookie to about 1/2″ thick, making a cross-hatch design.

• Bake the cookies for 12 to 16 minutes, until they’re barely beginning to brown around the edges; the tops won’t have browned. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

• Store well-wrapped cookies at room temperature for a week or so; freeze for longer storage.