Cinnamon White Chocolate (or Butterscotch) Cookies

It’s a good thing these cookies have already been distributed and eaten. If they were still in my house right now I would eat them all. I’m stressed.

Sometimes stress makes me eat. (Not always. . depends on the type of stress, actually.) Right now my stress is over my pup, Murfee, and her being inconsolable after having knee surgery a few days ago.

She is such a sweet little thing but apparently prone to knee trouble. This is her second knee surgery in 6 months. Different knees. Last night I was up most of the night with her. She was having some adverse reaction to the pain meds and would not settle down. It was a long night for her. . and me. She seems to be slowly recovering now.

If you know me, you might know that I am an anxiety ridden worry wart. Ask Tim. He knows for sure. I keep it sort of hidden from the rest of the world. (As a matter of fact, my other dog, Abby, may or may not mirror my anxious self. Ok, she pretty much does.) SO, being up all night and worrying about a hurt, sad, crying, beagle is enough to make me a wreck. She was crying, I was crying. . .it was NOT awesome.

Thank goodness we go to an amazing vet clinic. The vet and his staff are patient and accommodating to a crying woman bringing her dog in 3 seconds after they open. Do you think it’s because I bribe them with baked goods? Maybe.

I’m just too old for these all nighters. Whew! I was too old for them 15 years ago. I’ve never been a night owl. Here’s hoping there will be sleep from here on out.

This is Murfee (pre-surgery) trying to see if her tongue is long enough to reach the cookies.

I was in close to the cookies trying to get a good picture and when I pulled back from the camera I realized that my tiptoeing beagle was trying to stretch her tongue to reach the cookies! She’s stealthy like that.

Who can blame her? These cookies are delicious. The dough is very adaptable to add ins. I made the dough, split it in half and then stirred white chocolate chips into one half and butterscotch chips into the other half.

Both are yummy. Tim loves butterscotch so I’m pretty sure they were his favorite. Since we’ve been married, I try to keep butterscotch chips in the house all the time just in case I decide to whip up cookies. (There is a butterscotch cookie recipe that my mom used to make that is really good. I woo’ed Tim with it when we were dating. Maybe I’ll share it with you sometime.)

In case you were wondering, these cookies stay nice and soft and chewy. I prefer the soft cookies over the crunchy ones. Unless I’m making biscotti, I rarely even think to make a crunchy cookie.

The nice thing about these is that you could swap out the white/butterscotch chips for chocolate chips. Or mint chips. Or any other chip or add-in you can think of. Nuts? Marshmallows? Chopped candy? Etc, etc. . . You could leave out the cinnamon if it won’t pair well with whatever you are adding to the cookies. Cinnamon might not be great if you use mint chips, for instance.

They also freeze well. I use a 1 oz. disher (or small ice cream scoop) and scoop dough onto a cookie tray so they are all uniform size. I put the tray in the freezer a few hours until the dough is frozen. Then I bag the dough in zip top bags. One dozen to a bag. I write the flavor of cookie, baking temp and baking time on the bag and stash the bags in the freezer. If I end up needing something to take to an impromptu event or people are stopping over I can quickly bake a dozen cookies with no problem.

You’d think I never feed that dog but, she’s got the chubby belly to prove that I do. It’s sad to be a beagle. Poor thing. Now to put all this surgery stress behind us. I could really still use a cookie though. (What’s that saying? Don’t reward yourself with food, you’re not a dog. Hmph!)

Cinnamon White Chocolate (or Butterscotch) Cookies

2 sticks butter, room temp

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 12 oz bag white chocolate chips (or any flavor)

Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. This will take several minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon & salt. Beat well.

Add the flour and baking soda. Mix until combined. Stir in the chips.

Scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 36 cookies.