Oatmeal Coconut Chewies

I've made it my quest to start trying all the things pinned under my "recipes to try" Pinterest board.  Well, I can't even begin to describe how happy I am that I started with this recipe! I also love that the pin took me to one of my favorite blogs that I've been following for years.  Mel also supplied me with my very favorite chocolate chip recipe, too. So I knew these had to be good.  But back to these amazing cookies! They are perfectly chewy and just rich enough.  The coconut and oatmeal add such a nice texture and such a perfect "chew"--like the name insinuates. I love how simple the cookie is but it is rich, buttery, and SO delicious.  These will be added to our list of favorites, for sure. 

Oatmeal Coconut Chewies from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

1 C granulated sugar

1 C brown sugar

2 eggs

1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened to cool room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 C flour

1 C shredded, sweetened coconut

1 C quick oats.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set by not overly browned (bake a few minutes longer for a crispier version).  

Christmas Dinner

Wondering what to make on Christmas Eve or Christmas day?  I've compiled a list of a few of our very favorites--many that I'll be making this weekend as well.  I love the holidays and love getting in the kitchen and making our traditional meals and treats.  We always do ham on Christmas Eve and our favorite breakfast casserole on Christmas morning.  We also make sugar cookies to leave out for Santa with a big glass of milk.  So here are some of our tried and true holiday favorites.  Merry Christmas!
(Just click on the recipe names and it will take you right to the recipe)

SIDES

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

Brown Sugar Carrots

Cheesy Potatoes 

Barbeque Green Beans

BREADS

Amazing Rolls!

Cinnamon Rolls (Christmas morning tradition)

Butterscotch Bundt Rolls

SALADS

7-up Salad

Spinach Salad

Berry Salad

APPETIZER/DRINK/SNACK 

Apple Brickle Dip

Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate

Candy Chex Mix

Cauliflower Soup

 DESSERT

Moist Orange Carrot Cake

Andes Peppermint Crunch Cookies

Divine Chocolate Mint Cookies

Gingersnaps

Not Pictured (but I just had to add them):

Sugar Cookies

Pumpkin Blondies

Oreo Truffles

Apple Spice Bars

Oatmeal Cake

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This amazing, chewy, addicting cookie is going to be my new "go to" cookie.  We were going on a vacation last week and so I went on the search for a new, delicious cookie to take on the road with us.  Oh my.  These are insanely good. Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe claimed that they were her favorite cookie EVER.  What an endorsement!  And I must say that I agree with her.  My husband kept talking all weekend about how amazing they were. The coconut and abundance of brown sugar make for one moist, perfectly chewy combination.  I froze a ziploc bag of them to take with us and they were even better frozen, in my opinion.  I hate how cookies are sometimes only good for a day before they start to taste old.  Well, this recipe was not that way at all!  We had a tupperware of them sitting out for a good three days and they almost tasted better as the days wore on.  This is quite a feat, in my opinion.  I was so grateful we doubled the batch because we all gobbled them up and were so sad when they were gone.  I will definitely be making these again and again!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut from My Kitchen Cafe

1 cup oatmeal (not quick)
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoons vanilla
1 cup coconut
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the top 4 ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend about 30 seconds until coarse. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter for 30 seconds until light in color. Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Next, add the dry ingredients then add the coconut and chocolate chips. Shape cookie dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly before removing them from the pan to a wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Tips:  I didn't have any dark brown sugar--so we just used light brown in it's place.  I'll let you know if the texture or taste is different once I make it again with the dark brown.  But they were pretty amazing when we made it!  Also, we doubled it and didn't want to use 4 cubes of butter--so replaced 1 cube with 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce and it was still great!

Sugar Cookies

Happy Halloween!  I thought I'd post the MOST FANTASTIC recipe for sugar cookies ever!  How's that for an endorsement.  This is the recipe that my mom (aka Barbs in previous posts) has been making since I was a little girl.  The cookies are really light and soft and are honestly the best recipe I've made.

So I have kind of a funny story about this recipe.  I had posted previously about another sugar cookie recipe that I claimed was my mom's tried and true recipe.  Well, we were living across the country from my mom at the time and I was making them for years thinking it was her recipe.  And then when we were in town my mom made some sugar cookies and I remember thinking that they tasted much, much better and flakier and softer than mine.  I had even thought when making them previously that I could never get it quite like she did when I made mine.  And then my sister-in-law had gotten that recipe off of my blog and called my mom asking if you really used that much flour.  To which my mom responded that you for sure did not use that much flour.  So my mom went searching through her recipes and found that I had copied down a recipe in her box that she hadn't made in 25 years and I had copied it thinking it was the one she used.  So while that other recipe I have on here is good--this one is SOOOOO much better and is the one you should try!  It's the only one I'll be using from now on! 

Barbs Sugar Cookies

3/4 C butter

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1/2 t. vanilla

2 1/2 C flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs and flavoring.  Sift together dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixture.  Chill at least 1 hour.  Roll out 1/8 inch think.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 6-8 minutes.   Makes 2 dozen.

Tip: I always pull them out at no longer than 8 minutes--even if they look a little undone.  Then I leave them on the cookie sheet for a few minutes and they are firm but so soft and light.  I also add about 2-3 tsp of almond extract to my frosting (like my mom does) and it is the secret ingredient that makes them amazing!

Gingersnaps

As I've mentioned in a previous post, when I was younger I used to babysit for a phenomenal baker.  I would watch her kids every Monday after school and she would always have some yummy treat sitting on the counter.  My two favorites were her chocolate chip cookies and these phenomenal gingersnaps.  One day she had just made a fresh batch of these amazing cookies and left the recipe sitting out and so I immediately grabbed a pen and paper and wrote it down.  I was probably only fourteen at the time--so I hope I wasn't stealing a secret family recipe or anything like that.  I'm sure I mentioned to her that I copied it (I hope).  But these really do have the perfect flavor and blend of spices in them.  They have the most amazing, addictive pairing of sweet and savory--which makes it very, very easy to eat a dozen in one sitting (not that I'd ever do that....).  I made these last week and my husband and kids raved about them.  My husband usually loves chocolate sweets more than something like this so I was really surprised by how much he LOVED them.  I also love their texture--just the right amount of chewiness and slight crunch.

Gingersnaps from Michelle S.

* Cream: 1 C granulated sugar & 3/4 C butter

*Add: 1 egg and 1/4 C molasses

*Then add:

2 C. flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

Roll into small balls.  Roll balls in sugar.  Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Enjoy!!!

Rocky Mountain Cookies

It has clearly been way too long (once again) since I have posted.  The good news is that we have officially sold our house!!! Hallelujah.  It has been a long fourteen months but we are just so thankful to finally have it off our hands.  I didn't want to post anything about it being in contract so I didn't jinx it. But we signed a couple of weeks ago and so it's all official. 

So to celebrate our move back to the Rocky Mountains--I wanted to share this recipe.  The secret in this recipe that makes then unique and that gives them that extra little crunch is the rice crispies in them.  It is a really delicious variation on the standard chocolate chip cookie.  My friend brought the batter for these cookies to a dinner we were having when we were first living in Ohio.  She baked the cookies while we were eating dinner and we all inhaled them before she had even scooped out another batch to bake.  They are soft from brown sugar and oats with the perfect amount of crunchy.

Rocky Mountain Cookies from "The Essential Mormon Cookbook"

1 C sugar

1 C packed brown sugar

1 C butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 C old-fashioned oats

2 C Rice Crispies cereal

1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips

In a large bowl cream together sugars and butter.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl.  Add to mixture.  Fold in oats, cereal, and chocolate chips.  Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until very lightly browned.  Makes 6 dozen.

Snickerdoodles

 Sometimes I just crave a simple, no fluff cookie.  The snickerdoodle fits that description, without a doubt.  But, oh how I love this simple cookie.  I went out to lunch this week with my mom, sister, and sweet grandma and afterwards we went to get a cookie at a delicious cookie shop here.  My little guy got a snickerdoodle there and I stole a bite of it.   After wetting my appetite with that tiny bite (I tried to steal another one and he broke me off an atom-sized one....um, thanks?) I knew that I needed to bake some of my own this weekend.  I went on a search and found a highly rated recipe that did not disappoint in ANY WAY.  The cookies were soft with just the right amount of slight crunch on the outside. 

They key to a good snickerdoodle it to take them out of the oven at the right time (7-8 minutes for this recipes...no longer) even if they don't quite look done.  They set up quite a bit after removing them from the oven.  Otherwise, they'll be too crunchy and overdone.  Which is not good...in my opinion. 

This recipe is also a perfect one to bake with little kiddos.  They loved helping me roll the dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. 

Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles from Allrecipes.com

1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar (can use 4 t vinegar or 4 t lemon juice)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 T white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt.  Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

3. Mix the 2 T sugar (I used 3 T) and the 2 tsp cinnamon (I used 3 tsp).  Roll balls of dough in mixture.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

4.  Bake 7-8 minutes (not a minute more).  Remove immediately from baking sheets. Yields about 48 cookies.

Applesauce Cookies

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Ours was great here. I officially entered the "adult world" (I guess having two kids and a mortage might count for something, too) on Saturday when I turned 30 :-)--so it was a fun, celebrating weekend.

Anyways--on to the food. These are some of my favorite cookies that my mom used to make when I was growing up. They are really soft and a little cakey and have a great, subtle flavor of spices mixed with the applesauce. I love making them with chocolate chips! They aren't so overly sweet and so you can eat quite a few without feeling on a sugar high. I love that these are also a kind of cookie that I always have the ingredients for in my pantry! I made these to take to a family function on Sunday and had forgotten have delicious, soft, and yummy they are.

Applesauce Cookies from Barbs (aka my mom)

1/2 C shortening
1 C granulated sugar
1 egg
2 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 C applesauce

Cream everything except applesauce and soda. Put them in a separate bowl and mix--add to rest. Add raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes.

Lower Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

 These are my new favorite chocolate chip cookie! My friend made these a few weeks back when we were having a playdate at her house. I was instantly hooked! They are a lower fat version (I take that with a grain of salt....because anything with a stick of butter can't be low fat)--but compared to most recipes they do have less butter. They are really chewy and have such an amazing flavor. I have many favorite chococolate chip recipes--but these are now #1. I just love their consistency. They are perfectly chewy, sweet, and addictive.

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Mykette

Whisk by hand:

2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Then combine in a separate bowl:

1 stick butter, very softened
1 C brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar

Combine two sets of ingredients. Then add and beat for 1 minute:

1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg whites
1 C chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes.

Tips: My friend told me to make them following the ingredients exactly. The first batch of made of these, I had some oldish brown sugar that ended up getting really crystally and the cookies didn't turn out too well. So this last batch I opened a new bag of brown sugar and they were perfect (just as an FYI). Also, I'm not sure where the original recipe came from, but I think it might be Cooking Light.

One more tip: I asked Mykette if the dough sometimes comes out dry. She said she uses "extra large" eggs and so to add another egg white if you're using smaller eggs. Hopefully that way the consistency will be a little more moist. Given that they're lower fat, the dough isn't quite as moist as others and so I had to kind of roll them into a ball. They still tasted great, though!

Andes Peppermint Crunch Cookies

I know we're all probaby still reeling from the sugar overload of the holidays. But these are cookies that are now going to be added to our holiday repertoire. I made these to counteract all the salty appetizers we had on New Year's Eve. I had gotten the peppermint baking chips on a whim and decided to try the recipe on the back. My husband was a little leery at first (I seem to say that a lot on here....he really is complimentary of my cooking) but said many, many times that they were REALLY good. They had the perfect softy and chewy texture because of the coconut (which I was worried would overbear the flavor and it really just adds awesome texture) in them and have a nice flavor combination with the white chocolate and slight peppermint flavor.

Andes Peppermint Crunch Cookies from back of Andes Peppermint Chip bag

2 sticks (1/2 Lb.) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup sweetened grated coconut

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

1 1/2 cups Andes® Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300° F. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in egg and vanilla extract. On low speed, add baking soda, salt and then flour. Mix completely. Stir in oats, coconut, pecans, and Andes® Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips. Measure out 2 Tbs. for large or 1 Tbs. for small cookies. Place round balls on lightly greased cookie sheets two inches apart. Press lightly. Sprinkle some of the remaining chips on top of each cookie. Bake for 20 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 mins. for small cookies Do not over bake. They get crunchy on the outside but remain soft inside. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

Tips: The directions are a little bit specific but I followed them exactly and they turned out perfect!

The Best Sugar Cookies!

Update 10/30/2010....see http://itsdinnertime2.blogspot.com/2010/10/sugar-cookies.html for the "real" story on these cookies :).

Probably like many of you, I have been on a hiatus. This Christmas holiday was exactly what we needed around here. The tanking economy has been stressful (like it has for most of us) and so it was nice to just have a break from life and from my 'to do' list. And so in the process I put blogging on the backburner and just had a holiday. It was much needed! And so now I have to get back to real life and wanted to post this recipe before I went off and checked on all of your blogs! This is my mom's phenomenal sugar cookie recipe. My husband who doesn't prefer sugar cookies even gobbles these up and raves about them. They are SO soft and have the greatest flavor. The key with this recipe is to not overbake them and take them out at the alotted time--even if they still seem a little undone. They will firm up a bit as they sit. I'm sure we're all on a sugar high and not in a cookie mood after the holidays. But when that hankering hits--try these! You won't be disappointed.

Sugar Cookies from Barbs
1 C sugar
1 C butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs beaten
1/8 C milk
½ tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
4 ¼ C flour

Chill 3 hours. Roll out onto wax paper and cut into shapes. Bake at 350 for 6-7 minutes—don’t overcook. When making frosting, add almond extract to it and it makes them so yummy!

Tips: I make my own frosting by softening about 4 T butter and 1/2 cap of vanilla (sorry about no exact science here) and then adding milk and powdered sugar to desired consistency. And the trick that makes these cookies so fabulous is adding almond extract to the frosting. I do anywhere from 2-4 tsp depending on how much frosting I have. Taste and see the amount you'd like.

Divine Chocolate Mint Cookies

 I have been waiting for a good excuse to make these decadent cookies for a long time. I found the perfect excuse when I was invited to a cookie exchange and I couldn't wait to try these out! I love that they are a little bit unusual and not your standard chocolate chip cookie. My friend, Melissa, made these for a BBQ at her house this summer and I unabashedly ate almost the whole plate of them when she pulled them out. I just couldn't stop! The chocolate cookie gets all soft inside while the Andes mint firms up in the refrigerater--the ooey, gooey cookie and slight crunch go together so well. If you like the girl scout thin mint cookies you will LOVE these. But beware....they are super addicting!

Chocolate Mint Cookies from Allrecipes

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (4.5oz) packages chocolate covered thin mints (ie. Andes mints)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter, sugar and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat the eggs, ont at a time on high speed. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the chocolate mixture on low speed. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets (I did about 20 per sheet).

4. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. When cookies come out of the oven, immediately press one mint water into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minutes. When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer.

Tips: I think they are best when refrigerated until serving. The recipe calls for using a toothpick or spoon to make a pattern. I tried this on the first batch and it was harder to swirl--I ended up using a small fork (kid sized...since my house is full of kid stuff). I also think that next time I'll move the chocolate around more of the top of the cookie instead of keeping it mainly in the center--that way all of the cookie has that minty chocolate on it.

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies

 I discovered these cinnamon chips at the grocery store this week! I love chocolate and I love cinnamon--so could there be a better combination? I was totally intrigued and had to buy them. I searched for a recipe to use them in and since they're either new (or just new to me?) and maybe not found in all stores--I couldn't find a good one. So I decided to use the Hershey's recipe on the back of the bag. They turned out great. The cinnamon chips add the right amount of cinnamon and they were really light and soft. I loved the raisins with it (and I'm usually not a huge raisin fan). I've been trying to lose the 10 pounds I gained this summer on our cruise and so I lightened it up some and it still was amazing! I'll put the recipe as is and then note my variations at the bottom.

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chips Cookies from Hershey's Kitchens

1 C butter or margarine, softened
1 C packed brown sugar
1/3 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 C quick-cooking oats
1 bag (10 oz) Hershey's cinnamon chips
3/4 C raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combined flour and baking soda; add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in oats, cinnamon chips, and raisins (batter will be stiff).
3. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. About 4 dozen.
* To lighten it up and make myself feel less guilty eating a dozen, I used 1/2 C applesauce and 1/2 C butter. I also used 1/3 C Splenda (sugar substitute) and 4 egg whites.
* I also think I'll add more raisins next time. But I'll definitely make these again!
Let me know if you try it without substituting the "lighter" variations and how you liked them!

Butterscotch Cookies

These cookies are AMAZING!!! The butterscotch paired with the oatmeal and very slight orange flavor makes for one outstanding combination. I know it might sound a bit unusual--but trust me when I say that they are awesome! I took them tonight to a party with some friends and they were a hit! I got this recipe from my fabulous old neighbor, Elizabeth. I really like that they're a variation from the standard chocolate chip cookie and are equally delicious and a refreshing variation. I always get asked for this recipe and so I hope you like them too.

Butterscotch Cookies from Elizabeth E.

2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 C oatmeal
1 C butter (softened)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp water
1 bag (12 oz) butterscotch morsels

Cream sugar and butter then add eggs and water. Beat until creamy. Add oatmeal, salt, soda, orange extract, baking powder, and then add flour. Add morsels and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

WHAT NOT TO DO...forget the flour. I hope to not totally discount myself here as any type of baker (because I do like to think that I'm actually pretty good at it). But I will confess that I did ruin the first batch. Learn from me and just be sure to add the flour.... Yes, I was totally distracted and making them while I was on the phone today and didn't put the flour in. I even thought, "Wow, they aren't usually so wet..." and even then I didn't register the absence of flour. I guess I'm not as good at multi-tasking as I thought... I guess the redeeming moment was that I instantly realized what was missing and corrected it for batch 2 and 3. Note to self: don't cook and talk on the phone at the same time!

Easy Lemon Cookies

We're going to some friend's this afternoon to watch the last session of General Conference. They asked us to bring dessert and so I was wanting to make something that was simple and that we had ingredients around the house for. I was going to bring the leftovers of the Pioneer Woman Sheet Cake (below) and needed something else to have enough for everyone. Anyways, I found this recipe on Allrecipes. It had gotten 5 out of 5 stars from 268 people. They're nice and soft inside with a little bit of gooey crunch on the outside. If you like lemon bars--you'll like these. They are yummy!

Easy Lemon Cookies from Allrecipes.com

1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 C vegetable oil

1 teaspoon lemon extract (we used 1 T lemon juice)

1/3 C powdered sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended.

Drop teasponfuls of dough into a bowl of powdered sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 6-9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be lightly brown, and the insides chewy. They are the perfect consistency--so soft on the inside. They have a yummy light lemony flavor and the powdered sugar finishes them perfectly!

Witch Fingers

 With the upcoming holiday, I thought I'd add a fun cookie that we made for a Halloween party last year. I got this recipes off of Allrecipes. They were a hit for being rather spooky! Once they had cooled down they actually hardened up quite a bit and so maybe cook them less than the time says.


1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole almonds
1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel

DIRECTIONS

Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.

Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.

**We added green food coloring to them. These cookies are also more about the spooky shape (you can display them like they're coming up out of a bucket or something like that) and less about the awesome flavor--just a little FYI.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

I got this recipe off of allrecipes (obviously my favorite site). It was rated highly and I wasn't disappointed. They taste like homemade nutter butters...or like girl scout cookies (only better). They are awesome!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

2 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (we used milk and it was fine)

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1/2 cup peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add egg and beat well.In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir. Add oatmeal and stir.Drop by teaspoons onto greased baking sheet, and press each mound down with a fork to form 1/4 inch thick cookies. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown.

To Make Filling: Cream 3 tablespoons butter or margarine with the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, and the cream. Spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches.

Much better low-fat cookies...this one's for you Brandon & Lindsey B.

So below this post you'll see a post for different lowfat chocolate chips cookies. We tried this different recipe tonight for FHE and they are awesome! They taste a lot better than the other ones. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and we tweaked it some. I think they're about 40-50 calories each. We calculated the total calories of all the ingredients and got 6 dozen cookies out of the recipe. So they'll be a little more or less depending on the size of the cookies (we did average size). Just to give you an idea...other recipes for this kind of cookie on that site had up to 200 calories each. They're lowfat and have a lot more flavor and better texture than the others. Can you tell we're fans? Enjoy...

Lowfat Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

1 C unsweetened applesauce

3/4 C white sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

4 egg whites

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 (15oz) can pumpkin pie mix (not just pumpkin)

4 C flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets. In a large bowl, cream together applesauce and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and pumpkin pie mix until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir into pumpkin mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen.

Low Calorie Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let me preface these cookies by saying they aren't entirely cookies. I don't know what you would actually call them - but when they're fresh out of the oven they are warm and chocolately. So who cares what you call them?

The recipe says each cookie is 48 calories ... but that is with butter. I have substituted the butter with applesauce - so I'm asuming the calories are much lower than that.

Low Calorie Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup applesaucce
4 tsp. sugar substitue
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Sift together the dry ingredients. Cream butter, add sugar substitute, vanilla and eggs, blend well. Add flour mixture and beat well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Super Soft sugar cookies

 I got this recipe from one of my student's mom's when I was teaching school. I absolutely love my mom's recipe for sugar cookies--but today I didn't want to wait while that recipe called for a few hours of refrigeration. These totally delivered on being really soft. We loved them!

Soft Sugar Cookies

1 C sugar

1/2 C shortening

2 eggs

1 C sour cream (I used fat free and it worked great)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 C flour

Cream sugar and shortening; add eggs and beat well. Add dry ingredients and sour cream and vanilla. Mix well. Roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut into shapes. Bake on cookie sheet at 375 for 6-8 minutes (depending on how doughy you want them).

Top with homemade frosting....be sure to add about 1 tsp of almond extract to the frosting (taste to see if it needs more) and it's sooooo yummy!