DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from The Taste of Kosher

This recipe is from The Taste of Kosher. These cookies are made with oil, not butter, and cocoa powder. No hand mixer required, just a whisk. I made half the recipe and got 22 1 T. dough balls. I used about 1/2 c. peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips. I used a little more salt. Mine baked in about 7.5 minutes and I started with cold dough straight out of the refrigerator. They taste great and I will definitely make them again. The outside is crunchy and the inside is slightly soft, just the way I like them. Edit- I tried warming the dough up slightly in the microwave to bring it to room temperature to see if the dough spread out more while baking but it didn't. I'd like to try these again one day using equal parts melted butter and oil.

I didn't weigh out the cocoa powder. I spooned it into a measuring cup and leveled it off with the back of a knife. Doing it that way always yields a much much lower gram weight but everything I've baked with cocoa powder measured out that way has turned out great.

I grade these an A.

CHERRY-PECAN ICEBOX COOKIES by Taste of Home

This recipe is from Taste of Home. I made half the recipe and was supposed to form it into two 8" logs but accidentally made just one log. The log is 8.5" x 2". I got seventeen 1/2" slices. The baked cookies spread out to a huge 3.5" and took 10 minutes. Though they browned a lot, they don't taste it at all. I took the remaining dough slices, cut them in half and formed them into circles, pictured below. Those baked in 7 minutes. 

The recipe called for no vanilla extract so I added 3/4 t. and used more salt. I used candied cherries and pineapple, rinsing the thick corn syrup off of them before chopping into small pieces. I didn't use enough but that's OK since the dough itself is incredibly good. I omitted pecans. 

I grade these an A with the added vanilla extract, though I'm sure they'd be just as good without it.