cup brown sugar, firmly packed

cup white (granulated) sugar

teaspoon baking soda

teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon red food coloring

2 cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

cup sour cream

1 cup (6-ounce package) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. (If you don"t have parchment paper, you can use foil, but leave little "ears" of foil sticking up on the ends, enough to grab later when you slide the whole thing on a wire rack to cool.) Unwrap the squares of chocolate and break them apart. Put them in a small microwave-safe bowl. (I used an 8-ounce measuring cup.) Melt them for 90 seconds on HIGH. Stir them until they"re smooth and set them aside to cool while you mix up your cookie dough.

Hannah"s 1st Note: Mixing this dough is easier with an electric mixer. You can do it by hand, but it takes some muscle.

Combine the b.u.t.ter, brown sugar, and white sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them on MEDIUM speed until they"re smooth. This should take less than a minute.

Add the baking soda and salt, and resume beating on MEDIUM speed for another minute, or until they"re incorporated.

Add the egg and beat on MEDIUM speed until the batter is smooth (an additional minute should do it.) Add the red food coloring and mix for about 30 seconds.

Shut off the mixer and sc.r.a.pe down the bowl. Then add the melted chocolate and mix again for another minute on medium speed.

Shut off the mixer and sc.r.a.pe down the bowl again. At LOW speed, mix in half of the flour. (That"s one cup.) When the flour is incorporated, mix in the sour cream.

Sc.r.a.pe down the bowl again and add the rest of the flour. (That"s the second cup.) Beat until the flour is fully incorporated.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and give it a good stir with a spoon. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand. (A firm rubber spatula works nicely.) Use a teaspoon to spoon the dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a standard-sized sheet. (If the dough is too sticky for you to work with, chill it for a half-hour or so, and try again.) Bake the cookies at 375 degrees F., for 9 to 11 minutes, or until they rise and become firm. (Mine took exactly 9 minutes.) Slide the parchment paper from the cookie sheets and onto a wire rack. Let the cookies cool on the rack while the next sheet of cookies is baking. When the next sheet of cookies is ready, pull the cooled cookies onto the counter or table, and slide the parchment paper with the hot cookies onto the rack. Keep alternating until all the dough has been baked.

When all the cookies are cool, peel them off the parchment paper and put them on wax paper for frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:.

cup softened b.u.t.ter ( stick, 2 ounces, pound)

4 ounces softened cream cheese (half of an 8-ounce package)

teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered (confectioner"s) sugar (no need to sift

unless it"s got big lumps and then you should open a

new package anyway)

Mix the softened b.u.t.ter with the softened cream cheese and the vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.

Hannah"s 2nd Note: Do this next step at room temperature. If you heated the cream cheese or the b.u.t.ter to soften it, make sure it"s cooled down before you continue.

Add the confectioner"s sugar in half-cup increments until the frosting is of proper spreading consistency. (You"ll use all, or almost all, of the sugar.) A batch of Red Velvet Cookies yields about 3 dozen, depending on cookie size. They"re soft, velvety, and chocolaty, and they"ll end up being everyone"s favorite cookie.

Hannah"s 3rd Note: If you really want to pull out all the stops, brush the tops of your baked cookies with melted raspberry jam, let it dry, and then frost them with the Cream Cheese Frosting.

REGENCY GINGER CRISPS.

DO NOT preheat oven - dough must chill before baking.

cup melted b.u.t.ter (1 and sticks, 6 ounces)

1 cup brown sugar (pack it down when you measure it)

1 large beaten egg (or two medium, just whip them up with

a fork)

4 Tablespoons mola.s.ses (that"s 1/4 cup) 53

2 teaspoons baking soda

teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 and cups flour (not sifted pack it down when you

measure it)

cup white sugar in a small bowl (for coating the

dough b.a.l.l.s)

Melt the b.u.t.ter and mix in the sugar. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.