[Recipe] Brown Sugar Drop Cookies

When we were young, my mom used to make these during Christmas to give to our friends and teachers as gifts. It's very easy to make and yet tastes quite good. The dough gets very thick at the end so it will be difficult if you do not have an electric mixer. Don't forget to space the cookie dough in the cookie sheet since the cookie will still spread to avoid "sticking" with the adjacent cookies.



Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups brown sugar (note that when measuring brown sugar it must be packed)
6 eggs
6 cups flour (flour is not packed when measuring)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons boiling water (you could make this at the end of the preparation)
(note that this recipe is a bit large since my mother liked to make large batches. Divide all ingredients by two if you want a smaller batch)

Directions:
Sift the flour with salt and baking soda. In a separate mixing bowl, add the sugar and the oil
add eggs (unbeaten) one at a time. Mix well after each addition. Add flour mixture a little amount at a time (about 4 tablespoons) mixing thoroughly each time. After each addition of the flour mixture, the mixture will be very sticky. When it becomes too thick, add the boiling water to make mixing easier then add the remaining flour mixture.

Pre-heat oven to 375ºF

On a greased cookie sheet (Thin cookie sheets are preferable than the normal baking pans), place teaspoon sized drops of the batter mixture spaced evenly. Make sure you have enough space in between and from the side of the pan (it will spread during cooking). It is best if you have a 2 level oven to use 3 cookie sheets so you could use 2 in the oven and preparing one sheet at any given time (for large batches). Cook until edges of cookie turns light brown. It may be necessary to reverse the tray position to ensure even cooking (depends on oven, our oven doesn't heat that evenly). Once cooked, remove the cookies from the sheet right away since once it gets too cold it will be harder to get them off. Use a metal spatula or turner to get the cookies (or a rubber spatula if using non-stick pans). It may be a little soft when freshly baked but would harden after cooling. Cool by stacking on a rack or plate. You can store them by placing them in self sealing plastic bags. Some variations on the recipe could be done by adding raisins, nuts or M&M's on top to add more color and flavor. Enjoy!