Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Christmas Magic

Just a few days ago I was complaining to a friend that Christmas, usually my favorite time of year, just didn't feel magical to me this year. I'd been trying to get into the Christmas Spirit but still hadn't managed to come up with my normal Christmas cheer. No goodies had been baked for the neighbors, no carols had been sung, no presents were under the tree. Trials are hard... They are harder at Christmas.

There is something about the season that just seems to accentuate the losses that we've experienced, whether it be the loss of family, of work, of faith, or even the loss of it all. Every Christmas carol reminds you of days gone by. Every brightly lit home of the cheer that should be within. Even the smells of cookies and eggnog bring back treasured memories that seem so far away. Sometimes, whether or not we are struggling financially, we feel so poor in Spirit... It is from these shallow depths that some of the most important lessons in life are experienced.

Last night we had a surprise knock at the door. Somebody delivered Christmas magic to our front step. My first response was almost a panicky plea for them to take it all away to somebody who needed it more than us. I know there are so many! But in came boxes with gifts and food... But we're fine, I said, and haven't been struggling to buy groceries for goodness sakes! But then a closer look showed me that these weren't just groceries- They were the ingredients to holiday baking. They were the perfect gifts for my children. They were thoughtful items meant for each member of my family. They were a way of saying,

"I know you. I love you.You are my friend and I care." 

I immediately felt the Holiday magic that had been missing surge through me with a challenge to rise above my trials and do more to help those around me. So thank you, whoever you are. You humbled me, brought tears to my eyes and magic into my heart. Merry Christmas!

With our goodies was several containers of oats and cinnamon which was so perfect since I'd had this recipe saved as a draft for a couple weeks. This gave me the perfect opportunity to bake today!

I have been playing with this recipe for the past twelve months. Last year my aunt mentioned that her husband (one of my favorite uncles) LOVES oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but they always have a hard time finding any that are really delicious and live up to his high expectations. I made it a personal quest to create the perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie for him for this Christmas. (Yes I realize I sound like a complete nut working on a recipe for an entire year just to give somebody a cookie... )

Anyway, the thing that I always struggled with when making oatmeal cookies was that they always ended up being flat and unappealing. I'd try to add more flour and then they'd taste more like flour than oats... Finally I think I've figured it out and the recipe is as follows:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups quick cooking or rolled oats
1 1/2 - 2 cups chocolate chips

 Set oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on your oven and cookie size each batch should take about 10-15 minutes. I usually make my cookies on the smaller side so mine take about 10 minutes.

Cream butter and sugar. For the best results, beat until mixture is lightened in color. I mixed mine for close to 5 minutes to get the texture I was desiring. (This is where it'd be nice to have a Kitchen-Aid mixer.) I've learned that this is an important step when making oatmeal cookies or they tend to come out quite flat.

Add eggs, vanilla and salt and mix well.

Combine flour, soda, oats and cinnamon in a separate bowl and then gently combine into your wet mixture. Don't over-mix or, again, the cookies will end up flat and runny.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping tablespoonful onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. (You can skip the parchment if you absolutely don't have it... but I highly recommend it!)

Bake with the oven light on so you can monitor your first batch. I usually take the cookies out before they look completely done. They should be dry and slightly browned around the edges, but the middle may still look a tad underdone. Trust me on this! The cookies will continue to cook after they've been pulled from the oven and they will set into soft, chewy cookies instead of little rocks.

Happy December! (Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Here it is December already and to be honest with you I keep thinking that it should still be October! I am seriously lagging behind in the Christmas Spirit this year so to pump it up a notch I decided to bake some cookies today. This is always dangerous for me because I am an honest-to-goodness cookie addict and for Christmas this year I decided to give myself back my favorite jeans. (A Summer of stress does not bode well for for the waist line...) So the first thing I had to do after snapping pictures was to load these morsels up and give them away! (I may or may not have eaten one first...)
I scoured this blog the other day and realized that I didn't even have my all-time-favorite-standby chocolate-chip cookie recipe on here. Sometimes we take for granted that which we bake all the time. So here they are, the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Enjoy and Happy December!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk (or use 1/2 cup granulated sugar)
1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup Crisco
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
12 oz. chocolate chips (or 2 cups)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter, Crisco and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Combine dry ingredients except oats and chocolate chips and mix in completely. Stir in oats and chocolate chips and drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-9 minutes or until slightly golden on the sides.

Frosted Sugar Cookies

A good friend of mine recently shared her favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with me. She told me they were the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever so of course I had to give it a shot. I loved them but they weren't chewy enough for my picky boys. (I love soft, fluffy cookies so they were perfect for me. Naturally I ate the entire batch by myself....) But sorry folks, it's a top-secret recipe- I'm not at liberty to even post a picture!... either that or I ate them all before I could snap one... Just know that they were good!
Maybe it was the almond extract (can I say that?), but the dough reminded me a lot of my sugar cookie recipe so I of course then had a craving for frosted sugar cookies... MMMmmmmmmm! They were delicious but this batch had to be promptly given away or I'm sure I would have eaten all of these too. I'm such a cookie addict, it's sad...

Frosted Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dry milk
4 eggs
2 tsp pure almond extract

4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
7 cups sifted flour

 Cream butter, yogurt and sugars very well. Add flavorings and eggs, beating well. Add dry milk, baking powder, salt and soda and mix well. Add flour 1 cup at a time until dough is stiff. (By the time all the flour is added you'll probably have to mix by hand). Shape into 1 or 2 inch balls and smash them down onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 8 minutes or until very lightly golden. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.


Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon butter
4-6 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
yellow food coloring (optional)
Cream together cream cheese, sour cream and butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until mixture begins to look dry. Beat in lemon juice and food coloring. Whip until fluffy then pipe over cookies or cupcakes.

Cookie Dough Truffles

Honestly, I'm always trying to find new ways to eat cookies! I LOVE them- but I've never been one to eat raw cookie dough. It's the eggs... just thinking of putting raw eggs in my mouth makes me want to throw up! This little quirk has saved me thousands of calories over the years from not sampling the dough as I bake... but this makes up for it right here. Watch out- these are DANGEROUS!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup NF dry milk powder
2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat for mine and they tasted fine)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
12 oz semisweet or milk chocolate chips
Mini chocolate chips (for garnish)

Directions:

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, dry milk, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls. (My house is cool enough in the winter that I totally didn't have to refrigerate my dough at all. It was already the perfect consistency!)

Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for about an hour.

When ready to dip the truffles, *melt the remaining chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time using a fork, coating in chocolate and shaking gently or tapping against the bowl to remove the excess. (If at any point during dipping, the cookie dough balls become too soft, return to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.) Transfer to a wax-paper lined surface. If using mini chocolate chips for garnish, sprinkle on top quickly after dipping each truffle before the chocolate sets. Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
*you can also melt the chocolate in the microwave. I microwave mine for 1 minute then stir. Then microwave an additional 30 seconds, stir- 15 seconds, stir until chocolate is smooth and melted. Don't do this if you're not familiar with your microwave though- they're all different and if you burn the chocolate it's useless!*

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp water
1/2 cup NF dry milk powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour (Again used whole wheat for mine with good results but if you're a texture snob use white flour)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
12-24 oz peanut butter chips
Directions:

Combine the butter, water and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, dry milk, cocoa powder and salt. Mix well then add to sugar/butter mixture. Dough will be stiff so use your hands or a dough hook to fully mix.  Stir in the 3/4 cup peanut-butter chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls.
Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for about an hour.

When ready to dip the truffles, melt the remaining peanut butter chips in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time using a fork, fully coating and shaking gently or tapping against the bowl to remove the excess. (If at any point during dipping, the cookie dough balls become too soft, return to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.) Transfer to a wax-paper lined surface. Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Holiday Cookie Exchange

As a last minute idea, I decided this year I'd host a Cookie Exchange. I read about the idea on Msn.com and thought how lovely it would be to have my usual variety of cookies on hand for my family and friends without having to actually bake several different batches of the goodies! Because it was so last minute, I hosted it open-house style and very basic. No activities, no other goodies, not even really any socializing. For the busy holiday prepper it was perfect! We baked our cookies, we met together, we exchanged cookies, we waved goodbye. I had originally thought that if I did this again, I'd make it more of an event rather than just a simple exchanging of cookies... but I gotta say, I loved the simplicity of it all. It may just be the same next year after all!

Here are the stars of the show:

Sugar Cookies with Orange Buttercream Frosting

1 recipe Sugar Cookie dough

Orange Buttercream Frosting

(Submitted by Sheryl Rose)

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1/2 an orange

In a small saucepan cook flour, orange zest and milk until it forms a ball, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffly. Beat both mixtures together on high speed until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Refrigerate for about 1/2 hour, until it is of spreading consistency.

Bake cookies as directed. Allow to cool completely then frost with Orange Buttercream Frosting. Refrigerate any un-eaten cookies.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies **wheat free**
(sub butterscotch chips for raisins to make these dairy free- submitted by Andrea Daley)

3/4 cup Soy butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 cup real Maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup oat or spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 12-oz package butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Next, add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition so that they are completely incorporated. Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and rolled oats. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Fold the butterscotch chips into the cookie dough.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches spaced to allow for spread. Bake for 9 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
(submitted by Meg McInnes)

36 Hershey Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*enough sugar to roll the cookies into

Unwrap chocolates. Beat shortening and peanut butter together until blended. Add sugars, beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients except extra sugar and unwrapped chocolate kisses. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on a slightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 9-11 minutes. After removing cookies from oven, immediately place a kiss in the middle of each cookie (It will crack the cookie.) Remove cookie to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies
(submitted by Tamara Pilcher)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1 T. baking soda
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. butter, at room temp.
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 c. packed light-brown sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
3 c. old-fashioned oates
2 c. sweetened flaked coconut
2 c. chopped pecans (8 ounces), optional

Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl. In 8 -quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips,oats, coconut and pecans. Drop dough by 1/4 c. onto ungreased baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake in 350 degree oven 17-20 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Makes about 3 dozen large cookies. Could make 90 medium cookies, bake about 10 minutes. Use your own judgment.

Candy Cane Chocolate Chip Cookies
(submitted by Stephanie Schiess)

 
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
12 oz (2 cups) milk chocolate chips
1 package peppermint candy canes, unwrapped and crushed
 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine butter and sugars, mix until creamy. Add eggs and mix well. Add soda, salt, vanilla and flour. Mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips and candy cane pieces. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets spacing at least 1-2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown. Allow to cool on cookie sheets about 5 minutes before removing to cooling racks.
 


Krispie Cookies

(submitted by Julie Edwards)
 
1 cup butter
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups rice krispies
2 eggs
2 cups oats (regular, not quick)
2 cups flour
1 cup coconut
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans
1 to 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Mix flour, soda and baking soda together, then blend into first mixture. Stir in rice krispies, oats, coconut, and pecans. Drop by teaspoon full on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.


 
For the following two cookies, I used my chocolate cookie mix for the cookie itself with the following additions:

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

(submitted by yours truly)

1 recipe chocolate cookie mix, prepared

36 mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups, unwrapped

(For these I found a new thing this year- a package of mini peanut butter cups all unwrapped and ready to eat!... Heaven help us all...)

Prepare cookies as directed on mix except when time to bake, roll dough into 1-inch ball and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a peanut butter cup into the center of each unbaked cookie. Bake 6-8 minutes in 350 degree oven until edges dry and crack slightly. These cookies are small, they don't need to bake long.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

For these cookies, I used the same chocolate cookie mix as I used above but in the center, I added some home-made vanilla caramel. Instead of just pressing the caramel into the center of the cookie, I wrapped the dough around the caramel and then baked as directed above. I think they turned out yummy and a little different, but I have to be honest... my neighbor totally upstaged me by adding chocolate covered caramels into the center of each cookie and then rolling the cookies into sugar. Dah! Why didn't I think of that? They were DELICIOUS! (More delicious than mine..)

 
 

These weren't exactly cookies- I'm not sure what to call them except yummy! They had a mixture of nuts, cereal and marshmallows. My kids devoured them! Thanks to Michele K.!!

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread

3/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup corn syrup

1 1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

7 1/3 c. flour

2 Tbsp ground ginger

1 rounded Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

In a small saucepan, combine molasses, butter, corn syrup and brown sugar. Heat over medium heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinmamon, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. Crack eggs into cooled molasses mixture and stir until well blended. Pour molasses mixture into flour mixture and mix with dough hooks or your fingers until dry mixture is completely incorporated. Divide dough into fourths and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until dough is cool, about 1-2 hours. Unwrap dough one at a time and roll 1/4-inch thick. Cut out gingerbread shapes and bake at 350 degrees F. For cookies, bake 8-10 minutes. If you're using the dough to make gingerbread houses, bake 10-12 minutes for a harder cookie. Remove from cookie sheets and allow to cool completely before frosting or assembling gingerbread houses.

For the icing there are a couple different options. The following recipe is relatively inexpensive, but is not recommended to be eaten since it has raw eggs in it. Below that is the recipe that I use because there is no way I can avoid my kids eating their houses. This year when we were finished assembling the houses it wasn't even 5 minutes before my 3-year-old was tearing hers apart! This recipe is a little more expensive because of the meringue powder, but still not too bad. You can usually find meringue powder in the wedding cake area of the store.



Gingerbread House Icing(Inedible)

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. cream of tartar
3 egg whites

Beat all ingredients on high until stiff peaks form. This should take about 7 minutes. Use as glue for assembling house. Icing will harden as it sits, so add a few drops of water as needed. Use assorted candies to decorate house. Houses can be made a month in advance and then decorated at your convenience.

Gingerbread House Icing

3 level Tbsp Meringue Powder (dried egg whites)
1 lb powdered sugar
6 Tbsp water

Beat all ingredients at high speed for 7-10 minutes until icing forms stiff peaks. Makes about 3 cups.


For assembling and decorating, I've found that it is WAY easier to pipe the frosting from a disposable decorator bag as opposed to spreading with a knife. This also helps to keep the frosting from drying out while you are using it. You can make this ahead of time and store it in the decorator bags- just place the filled decorator bags into a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Store up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Here is a very simple gingerbread house pattern that I use for my kids. I usually reduce the size by 75% before printing for the perfect kid-size gingerbread house.

Happy Decorating!

 



The Truth and Halloween Sugar Cookies

It has come to my attention that some people think that I'm some kind of super-mom when it comes to cooking. I have to be honest with you: I'm not. I love to cook and yes, I do it often. But I'm also a mother of four, room mom for my kindergartner's class and Volunteer site coordinator for a produce Co-op. Add that to church callings, family drama, laundry, dishes, potty training, dance practice, and a huge garden... well, let's just say I don't always get a "proper" dinner to the table. In fact, to lower the bar even further... I may as well admit to you that yes, I have on rare occasions fed my children cookies, goldfish and a vitamin supplement for dinner. And my family can verify that on days like that, well... you just don't question it. Actually it's best to avoid confrontation at all. Eat your cookies and GO TO BED!

That said, hopefully I can redeem myself just a tiny bit by sharing a delicious cookie recipe with you. And no, we didn't have this for dinner last night! Remember I made some chocolate fudge frosting for Mike's cake that I didn't end up using? Well, I thought it would be criminal to let it go to waste so I dyed it black and made Halloween cookies. YUM. I also made some pink frosting for Breast Cancer Awareness month. I won't tell you what shape those cookies were.... (haha just kidding, they were just circles- can you tell I'm in a "mood" today? maybe we'll be having cookies for dinner tonight...)

No-Fuss Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter (can substitute shortening or do 50/50)

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp almond (or vanilla) extract

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, soda, almond and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring to combine.

2. Drop by tablespoon into a bowl of granulated sugar, roll until covered then place onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 8-9 minutes for soft cookies. They may look slightly uncooked, but trust me, they will firm up as they cool. If you cook them longer, they will end up being crunchy. Which is fine... if you like that sort of thing.

**If you are planning on frosting your cookies (which, lets all be honest, is the only reason to even eat a sugar cookie...) then skip step 2. Allow to cool completely then frost with your favorite icing or frosting.

***If you want to cut shapes, cover dough tightly and refrigerate for a couple hours before rolling it out. But, since I'm in a mood I'll tell you right now that's the main reason I don't normally make sugar cookies. It's just one more step to fuss with and in my opinion, not necessary. Too bad the kiddos don't agree, right?

The spider is two cookies together with black frosting. I mashed together three mini marshmallows for each of the eyes and dotted them with black frosting.

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cookies

I actually made these cookies a few weeks ago when I was rotating out my peanut-butter. Remember the "Outside-In" burgers I made? These are built about the same way. Except instead of ground beef, sub in chocolate cookie mix. And instead of cheese, sub in sweetened peanut butter. Oh! And instead of grilling, you bake them... ok, so they don't have a lot in common except that for both you put the yummy stuff in the middle and form the cookie/burger around it.

1 batch chocolate cookie mix, with ingredients called for in recipe

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Prepare chocolate cookie mix as directed. In a seperate, smaller bowl combine peanut butter and sugar. To make each cookie: Drop a heaping teaspoonful of cookie mix onto an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten with the back of a spoon or your hand. Drop about 3/4 teaspoon of peanut butter mixture onto center of each cookie. Fold edges of cookie up over the peanut butter and seal with your fingers. Bake for about 9 minutes or until edges are set and slightly dried. Don't overbake! The cookies will firm up as they cool. Allow to cool on pan for a couple minutes before moving them to cooling racks.

Sugar Lime Cookies

My Mellissa is so cute (my 3 year old). Every morning she wakes up and as she is walking down the stairs with the cutest little smile on her face she says, "Hi mommy! What are we making today?" A few days ago the answer to that question was sugar cookies.

Sugar cookies have always been and will always be my favorite. But not just any sugar cookie. It needs to be soft and moist with just the right amount of frosting (the frosting also must be either sour cream or cream cheese frosting- nothing else will do). For this cookie I experimented a little with a couple limes I had hanging around in my refrigerator. 

Sugar Lime Cookie

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup dry powdered NF milk

3 eggs

4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

zest from two limes

Cream together butter, sugar and dry milk. Add eggs and mix until smooth. Grate the zest from the limes directly into the mixing bowl. Add salt and soda. Mix thoroughly. Add flour 1 cup at a time while slowly mixing until all the flour is incorporated. At this point you can cover bowl and refrigerate dough for about 2 hours so you can roll it out or do as I do and just drop dough by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your spoon or with a fork. Bake at 375 F for 8 minutes. Allow to cool and then frost if desired.

Sour Cream Lime Frosting

juice from 2 limes

1 Tbsp butter, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

3-5 cups powdered sugar

(I like my frosting more like a glaze so I use less sugar)

Combine lime juice, butter and sour cream in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired consistency. Refrigerate leftover frosting for later use.

Peanut Butter Cookies

A friend of mine turned me onto this blog. I love it. It's going to make me fat. er...

I have a case of peanut butter that I've been rotating this week. Why am I rotating an entire case of peanut butter in a week? Well, we usually don't use very much of it. I'm not a big PB&J person therefor my kids don't get them very often either. However, I do keep my "year-supply" nice and stocked up. Soo... the reason I'm rotating?
1. I have a case of peanut butter on my shelf downstairs that is past it's use-by date.
2. Peanut butter is on sale this week.
3. I don't have enough room on my shelf for the new case plus the old case.

Hence the Peanut Butter Brownie Bites the other day.. (Which is a variation of a recipe from the evil "make-me-fat" blog..)

And for today I tried two different peanut butter recipes. Josh saw me looking at the above mentioned blog the other day and has been bugging me to make these cookies ever since.

5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Leslie Sarna

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips. When blended, mix in the chocolate chips. Using your fingers, form 1 1/2 inch balls (dough will be very wet and sticky) and place onto an un-greased parchment lined cookie sheet. You don't want to make them too big because they do spread. Bake for 9 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the cookies sheet for about 30 seconds to 1 minute before letting cool on a wire rack. Makes around a dozen small cookies.

Overall these cookies were good but tend to fall apart easily. As far as easy goes, though, these definitely take the cake. In about 10 minutes you can be pulling freshly baked cookies out of the oven... which can't be a bad thing. Well... maybe it is...

Zucchini Cookies

These cookies are great for both rotating food storage and using up some of your surplus zucchini. They are light and sweet and delicious. And if your kids are like mine... when whole grains and vegetables are shaped like a cookie they don't ask questions... They just chow down! Mmmm

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup shredded zucchini, lightly drained
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dry powdered milk
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (to make your own, finely grind soft white wheat)
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine shortening, zucchini, sugar and dry milk. Mix until well combined and creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if desired). Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Allow to cool on cookie sheet about 1 minute then transfer to cooling rack.

Squash Cookies, Squash bread, Squash cake

Multi-purpose Squash batter

2 cups cooked and mashed butternut squash (or pumpkin puree)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
¼ cup dry powdered milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Optional:
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, white sugar, salt and spices. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together milk, egg and butter. Stir in squash. Fold the squash mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.

For muffins:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling cups about 1/2 full. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch cake pan and sprinkle the bottom of the pan with granulated sugar. Pour batter into pan. Bake 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool and frost with cream cheese or chocolate frosting.

For cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drop batter by tablespoon onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

For bread:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 large bread pans and sprinkle bottoms of pans with granulated sugar. Pour batter into each pan until it is about ½ full. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes. Check for doneness at about 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into the center of the bread should come out clean when bread is done. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely before slicing.

Quinoa Cookies

Mike always scoffs at me when I make "healthy" cookies. Afterall, he says, when somebody is reaching for a cookie they aren't exactly looking for a healthy choice, so why waste the ingredients? He has a point... but sometimes it's nice to just sneak some whole grain into these unsuspecting treat seekers (ie. my kids... and Mike). These cookies also have half the butter, half the chocolate, and half the sugar as your traditional chocolate chip recipe. I know what you're thinking... eew. Why would anybody do such a thing to a cookie?! But I promise they really do taste good. I even fed some to my sweet tooth friend and she couldn't tell they were half the sugar. There's not very much quinoa in this recipe- just enough to give the cookies a pleasant little crunch and a hint of nuttiness. I think it adds character, but you could easily leave it out if you don't have it.

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies


1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup LF plain yogurt
3/4 cup NF dry milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup quinoa
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter, yogurt, sugar and dry milk in medium mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add baking soda and salt. Mix well. Add flour and oats and mix/stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and quinoa. Drop by teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheets and bake 10 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie trays a couple minutes then transfer to a wire rack. When cool, transfer to freezer bags and freeze up to 3 months. Makes 4 dozen cookies.