2014 Cookie baking is Done!

10 batches (I know, it was only supposed to be 9), 3 weeks and up to number 185, I am done baking for 2014.  I'm also done shopping, wrapping (except for the three packages I'm waiting on from UPS) and everything else for Christmas, - not to brag though.

The result:

Back row: Chocolate-topped surprise cookie, Peanut butter cut-out cookie, Filled Chocolate Spritz, Cranberry nut swirls
Middle Row: Pecan Meltaways, Frosted Gingerbread Nut cookie, Two-tone Christmas cookie, Minty Meringue drops
Front Row: Peppermint Candy Cookie, Cherry Macaroons

First weekend:
#176 Two-tone Christmas Cookies
I mentioned these in the last post (the disaster cookie).  It turned out okay.  As you can see, the green half does look a little bit like fruit cake, but I think they taste the way they're supposed to; they just don't look all that appetizing in my opinion.

#177 Cherry Macaroons
One of my favorites this season - I think an more appropriate name would be Cherry Coconut Macaroons.  A big hit so far with people this season.

     1 1/3 cup shortening                                      2 tsp baking powder
     1 1/2 cup sugar                                             2 tsp baking soda
     2 eggs                                                           1 tsp salt
      1 tsp almond extract                                     1 1/2 cup flaked coconut
     3 1/2 cups flour                                            1 cup maraschino cherries, chopped

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and extract; mix well.  Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture.  Stir in the coconut and cherries.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove to wire racks.

#178 Peppermint Candy Cookies
These were actually fun to make and not that hard, though they look impressive.  A co-worker thought they were store bought.  To make a pinwheel effect, make your dough, then divide it in half and color one of the halves (i.e. green)  then take each of the halves and divide it into thirds.  Roll each into a log (all the same length) and alternate colors.  Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge.  When it is chilled (at least an hour) you can slice and back these cookies.

2nd Weekend
I wasn't planning on making many cookies this weekend as we had a lot going on (Mike's birthday, cousins Christmas party, neighbor breakfast) - so I had some other baking to do.  I tried to convince Mike that we could just get a dessert from wherever we ate out for his birthday - but he really wanted this peanut butter chocolate truffle pie that I had a recipe for.  So I ended up baking a pie.  Then my friend (Tanell - you know her - I've mentioned her before) thought we should get together with the boys (her 4 year old, my Joey) and bake cookies - so we did that too; that's where that extra batch came in to make 9 to 10 batches this season.

So #179
Filled Chocolate Spritz - we made this batch with the boys while we waited for #180 to chill enough for us to work with.  Ironically, I was looking through my book for a good batch for the little ones to "help" and found this one.  I thought I was going to end up with 11 batches - but a few days later when consulting my list of cookies for this month - I realized I had planned to make this one anyways.  This one was fun but you need hand strength.  I'm so glad I had help from my friend.  The dough was stiff to mix and the cookie press was hard to press - we took turns.  Plus, it turns out, Tanell is excellent at drizzling chocolate on top of cookies.  It's certainly not my favorite when a cookie never seems to end (finicky cookies) and then have to be topped with a drizzle.  I always use a sandwich bag with a small hole cut in the corner, but other holes always seem to pop open and I get chocolate everywhere.

#180 Peanut Butter Cutout Cookies
Imagine a sugar cookie that you frost and decorate, but instead, it's peanut butter flavored.  That's what this is.  The boys loved using the cookie cutters and they loved eating the frosting.  Joey was a very meticulous decorater putting one sprinkle on at a time.  Then when he finished, I started to take it away to give him another to work on.  He had a different idea - eat the one he worked so hard on.  Then he was done.  He and Kole I think decorated 5 cookies between them.  Tanell and I did the rest.

    

 

#181 Cranberry Nut Swirls

I was planning on preparing this batch the same day as the above happened - but I was too exhausted - so I did it the next day - Sunday - the day of the cousins Christmas party - the event I wanted to share these cookies with.  I knew the dough had to refrigerate for an hour, I should've read further.  The dough had to refrigerate for an hour - then the dough needs to be rolled out, filled with the filling, rolled up and refrigerated for "several hours" or "overnight".  Luckily I woke up early, prepared the dough, refrigerated it, and then did the filling and rolling by 9 am - just in time to go to our neighbor's Christmas breakfast.  So I was still able to pull it off.  

This batch was the only time this month that Mike questioned my sanity and whether I was pushing myself too much. 

(I also had a fruit salad to make for the Christmas breakfast).

Final Weekend (okay, extended into the week of Christmas break)

#182 Pecan Meltaways

Mike loves them - I hate them.  I think this is a first where our ratings drastically differed (5 from him, 1 from me).  This is dough with chopped pecans all rolled into a ball and then rolled in powdered sugar.

#183 Frosted Gingerbread Nut Cookies

Not bad for gingerbread - a 3 from each of us.  Considering how many gingerbread cookies there are in this book and how associated it is with Christmas; I really haven't found anyone who likes gingerbread.

#184 Chocolate Topped Surprise Cookie

The most anticipated cookie (at least by me).  As I told Mike - it's a chocolate chip, stuffed inside a maraschino cherry, stuffed inside dough and covered in chocolate.  I knew I would like this - Mike says "I give it a 3"   Wha!!???  It's amazing.

#185 Minty Meringue Drops

Meringue cookies are fun to make...and eat.  But they don't store well.  Made them just today so that they'd be okay for Christmas Eve and Christmas.  My big problem that needs solving - you want to make the meringue and immediately bake the cookie.  Though I can only fit so many on a cookie sheet - so the batter sits for a 1/2 hour while they bake.  Then the next batch is a little more droopy.  Don't know what to do about that.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Looking towards the New Year - I'm going to try and experiment with video taping the cookie baking and then doing the whole fast forward thing so that it looks like I'm baking really fast.  Though I don't have an iphone 6, so not sure how I'm going to do that yet.  I'm always looking for ways to make this more interesting.  

Is this a sign?

I've started the Christmas baking for the season.  I'm planning on 9 batches, that's how many I did last year and that was just about perfect.  However, it has started disastrously.  I'm hoping this isn't a sign for the rest of the Christmas baking.  

The first batch, a timeless slice and bake, is looking like it might just be a wash.  As long as we can taste it, and judge it, then I don't care.  I spent an hour and a half today assembling the cookie (it has to refrigerate overnight, so I haven't even baked it yet).  It started badly.  The recipe calls for chopped pistachios.  So I'm in the grocery baking aisle.  I see chopped pecans, macadamias, slivered almonds, chopped peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, but no pistachios.  I can only find pistachios in the snack aisle.  Did you know pistachios come in shells?  So today I had to unshell enough pistachios and then chop them up in order to get 1/3 of a cup.  Other than my thumbs being sore, that went well enough.  The recipe then called for dividing the dough in half and in one half, putting the pistachios with milk and green food coloring in.  I was supposed to stir it in.  It called for 9 drops of food coloring, but it didn't change color.  I had to put in about 30.  I stirred, but the dough remained crumbly.  The other half (consisting of raspberry jelly and red food coloring), mixed very well (I used the mixer).  Then I had to take the two halves and make a rectangle.
To shorten this up - the two rectangles are made, they are stacked and they are in the refrigerator.  The red half looks great, the green half looks like a crumbly pistachio green speckled bread.  So we'll see how those turn out.

#175 Fudgy Walnut Brownies
I made these about 3 weeks ago for Old Lady Game night.  It had a walnut crunch topping, interesting addition to a brownie.  Needless to say, Mike loved it.  It was a hit at old lady game night - but Megan agreed with me - they're just "enh".  Of course, I don't actually like walnuts, so that might have had something to do with it.  

Halloween has come and gone, winter is here, and Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  I managed to get another 3 batches done in the last couple of weeks. 3 seems to be the magic number of when I actually get around to posting.  I don't have anything to interesting to say, so I'll try to add pictures.

#172 Quick Ghost Cookies

These were super cute cookies that Joey passed out for Halloween.  Mike and I were pleasantly surprised because normally the "cute" cookies, don't actually taste all that good, but these were excellent - a 4 and a 5 from us. 

Take nutter butter cookies, dip them in melted white chocolate (need 1lb for a package) and stick two mini-chocolate chips on for eyes.  

Joey loved Halloween.  He went as a monkey; though he wouldn't wear the hat.  Grandma Mary confused him about Halloween though.  We went to the nursing home to see Great Grandma, and Grandma Mary had Joey pass out candy to the residents.  Later when Auntie Sarah gave Joey candy, he took it out and tried to pass it back to us.  

#173 Cranberry Chip Cookies

Another potato bar potluck at school, so whipped these up quickly the Tuesday night before - after I had already driven Mike and Joey to the airport - they visited Grandma and Grandpa in Indiana for a week.  Can you believe he took my 1 year old for a week?  I told him he owed me; he doesn't seem to think so - he feels I get a vacation.  I'll admit, it wasn't terrible to have the house to myself for a whole week, but five days is more manageable to be away.

These were only a 3 - though some at work - who apparently don't have as high as standards - probably because they don't taste all the cookies - thought they were great.  

#174 Vanilla Glazed Apple Cookies

While Joey and Mike were gone; I went to a crafting retreat.  This might become an annual tradition.  Mike and Joey can go down to Indiana to "help" farm and run the combine, and I'll go to the crafting retreat the same weekend.

Anyways, made these cookies for that.  Maybe these can be described as an apple pie in cookie format.  I wouldn't say they're like warm apple pie.  They would for sure be bland without the icing on top.  Apple, walnuts and raisins in this cookie.

Mean Mommy

I should preface this with I'm in the middle of baking a batch, but I had to be the mean mom and I need support.

Whilst in the process of baking batch number 172, Joey was eating lunch.  Mike came up and grabbed a cookie, so then Joey wanted to be all done with lunch and eat cookies.  I told him he needed to finish his bologna.  I tried in every way I could to get Joey to eat at least one more bite of his lunch, but my son is rather stubborn.  You've all been there.  I couldn't back down and just give him the cookie even though that's all I wanted to do.  My son sat there and just sobbed and screamed. Mike disappeared - I guess I better get used to this role of mean Mommy.

So yes: batch 172: Pumpkin chip cookies
For the annual Halloween party my brother throws.  That's another difficulty in itself - trying to get a grown man who feels that Halloween is "inherently stupid" to agree to a costume. Three years ago I got him to agree to a lumberjack (I was the tree), he could wear jeans, boots, a flannel shirt and carry an ax.  Now that's all he wants to be.  There's only so many costumes to go with flannel shirt and jeans.  Originally I came up with: Juno.  I'm pregnant, he could be Paulie Bleaker - we're talking: shorts, sweatshirt and sweatbands for him.  He would not commit to that.  So that idea is out.  Party is tonight - as of 10:30 today, I had no costume ideas.  Off to Mom's costume box.  This is some serious business this costume box.  All the costumes she has ever made, vintage clothing from the 20's on, random accessories, she even has a WWI gas mask in it.  I decided to go with the classic Hillbilly costume - not my proudest costume, but I'm getting desperate.  Mom had this great sack dress with pantaloons.  I came home and told Mike: "Good news!  You can wear your flannel shirt and jeans. But you're a hillbilly instead of a lumberjack.  You'll have a hat and corncob pipe instead".  Mike doesn't like that idea.

Back up:
#168 Granola Blondies
Matt and Sarah (my sister and brother-in-law) came over to play a new game that I had bought for Sarah for her birthday.  They are childless, so they actually sit and play games in their free time at their house.  Anyways, I made these bars - healthy bars, for dessert.  They have granola, raisins and cherries in them.  Mike even gave them a 4 - maybe that's how I get him to eat some healthy food now and again - sneak it into a cookie.

#169 Coconut Pecan Bars
It was the church craft show time again.  Mom asked me, as she does every year, to make a bar.  Note to self in the future: someone suggested drizzling chocolate on top.

#170 and #171
So one of my best friends just had a baby.  I was trying to coordinate with her to come and visit (and of course bring cookies).  Before I got word on what day to come over, I made batch 170: Easy chocolate caramel cookies.  OMG, these were amazing and definitely warrants teenage OMG language. Due to the fabulousness of this cookie and the fact that we then decided to go visit the new baby a week later, these all got eaten up.  So batch #171 for my friend: sorry Chels.
171: Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars:
These were okay - compared to the above - sorry again Chels.  Very easy quick cookie.  Refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough as a base, cream cheese with sugar and an egg mixed, spread on top. Voila.

There you have it.

I apologize for the substandard writing.  Baking 623 cookies is a project in itself.  Trying to then write about them as well as being a master's student finishing her thesis, being a mom, being pregnant and being a teacher while also maintaining the house - leaves me little time to proofread and really spend time on this writing.  Once someone tells me exactly what to do in order to monetize this blog - then I'll spend more time on the writing.  That's another thing - I did start to research on how I could get more followers, but I ran out of time.

Chocolate Caramel Cookie recipe:

1 pkg devils food cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup water
3 tbs canola oil
38 Rolo candies
Chopped hazelnuts

In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix, egg, water and oil; mix well.  Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls.  Press a candy into each; reshape balls.  Dip tops in hazelnuts.
(Just a note -the dough is extremely sticky - you may want to try to refrigerate it for a bit to make it less sticky - or spray hands lightly with cooking spray))

Place on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until tops are cracked.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks

Big news

I've been putting this blog post off for a while because 1) nothing funny, exciting, dramatic, etc happened since I've baked these three batches.

Let me preface this post by saying, I spend my day teaching ELL students how to be good writers; and ironically, I feel like I'm failing right now as a writer as I didn't even proofread this, but dang it, I'm tired by the end of the day.  My days have been: up by 6, at work, teaching groups, picking up extra hours from the district testing students, off to tennis practices (yep, I was roped back into coaching) and then home by 6 at night, usually.  As a co-worker said to me; I've got to teach my left hand to grab my right hand as it's being raised to volunteer for another task.  Oh, I also applied to be the professional development coordinator at my work.  Oh, and I'm working on my thesis.  And oh, there's that other thing that's making me exhausted as well, 14 weeks pregnant with an 18 month old boy who seems to have taken all the energy.

#165 Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Labor Day Weekend:
It was a really fantastic weekend.  Beautiful weather, a bit on the cooler side; which I actually prefer so there doesn't feel like there's pressure to get in the water and play outside all day.  We played games (we're loving Ticket to Ride right now), played tennis, had fires, caught frogs - really fantastic - other than of course the huge fight I had with my brother about pizza.  It doesn't seem to matter how old we get does it, when you're around your siblings, doesn't it seem that we all naturally take on that role that we always had growing up.  Although I totally blame this fight on pregnancy hormones and the fact that my brother's a turd (I'm so not taking all the blame).

Anyways, the cookie: amazing!  I think the secret ingredient is the vanilla pudding, although Mike's been doing the grocery shopping and he claims the grocery store did not have any vanilla pudding, so he bought french vanilla pudding - I used it, it didn't ruin it, so who knows, maybe that's what made them great.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie
1 cup butter, softened                                         1-1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar                                                    1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
3/4 cup brown sugar                                           1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs                                                                  1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract                                             2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups quick cooking oats         1 cup chopped nuts (though I did not include these as I didn't have any)

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Combine the oats, flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove to wire racks.

#166 Frosted Brown Sugar Cookies
Remember the neighborhood I live in that I told you about last post?  It really is a great neighborhood.  A Lydia Lady (that's the name of the group that gets together) cleaned out her garage and asked me if I would like a few of her boys' old riding toys.  She gave us a nice pedal car and a small bike (for when Joey gets bigger).

So that was way back in July or August.  I made a batch around then and was going to give her some of those as a thank you, but they got eaten.  Then I figured, well, I'll have another batch soon I can give her some.  Here it is September, and I hadn't thanked her yet. And of course the longer you wait to thank someone, the bigger the gesture needs to be I feel.  So, this batch got made for her.


Frosted Brown Sugar Cookie:
1/2 cup butter, softened                                   Brown Sugar Frosting
1 cup brown sugar                                          1/4 cup butter
1 egg                                                                1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sour cream                                          2 tbs milk
1-3/4 cup flour                                                  1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

In a small bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and sour cream.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in apart onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

For frosting, in a small saucepan, melt butter over low hear; add brown sugar.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Gradually add the milk.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in confectioners' sugar.  Cool for 20-30 minutes.  Frost cookies.

#167 Brown Sugar Icebox Cookies
Not sure what's with the brown sugar theme here.  If you're going to make all these cookies, I suggest you buy your brown sugar in bulk at Costco - those big bags last me about the same amount of time that a regular bag does for the regular person.  Well, I'm not sure how long a regular bag lasts a regular person; because if regular people don't bake much, they may never use all their brown sugar up before it gets hard and gross.

Mike's Uncle John had to have some surgery; kind of major stuff since he had to be in ICU for a few days.  This Uncle is a pretty fun and entertaining guy and I think is one of Mike's favorite Uncles - I know that because Mike actually went to the store on his own to buy a get well card.  I'll try not to take it personally that I didn't get so much as a how ya doin? after I gave birth to our son, but whatever.  So yeah, that's who these cookies are for.

Brown Sugar Icebox Cookies (they're pretty good, for a non-chocolate cookie)
1/2 cup butter, softened                                         1-3/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar                                                1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg                                                                    1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract                                              2/3 cup chopped pecans OR flaked coconut

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to cream mixture.  Fold in pecans or coconut (we used coconut since Mike claimed the grocery store didn't have pecans either).  Shape the dough into two rolls; wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Unwrap and cut into 1/4 in. slices.  Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes or until set.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

I've been busy

So it has been 15 days since my last post; which is pretty damn good since I've been bad about keeping this up to date.  However, I have made six batches in those 15 days - doing a bit better than my one batch a week at the moment.  And the baking doesn't seem like it's going to slow down until after labor day.

The consensus from my two followers was that I needed to post the recipes so that they could then make them.  I'm still worried that if I do that, the Taste of Home authorities will knock on my door and arrest me or something.  So I think what I'll do is post some of the recipes - the ones that are a hit and of course cite it.  What I'll also maybe try to do is take a picture of some sort of event that surrounds the cookie and or the cookie itself and talk about the picture - so like instagram it but with a story.  They need an social media app for that - maybe there is one and I just am not up on it yet.   I should mention, each recipe in the book comes from someone in the United States and always has a one sentence story to go along with it.  Also, the recipe will always be in italics so you can skip over it easily.

#159 The "Special" Chocolate Chip Cookies
Girls cabin weekend time - so there was a lot made out of the fact that these are "special" chocolate chip cookies.  Not much to report; I think we've relaxed in our old age (of 30's) - there wasn't much drinking, not too late partying, and up before 10 - some of us up before 8 - with kids up, you kind of gotta be.
 So the recipe - I kind of hate writing these out - they're always so long:

1/2 cup quick cooking oats                                          3 tsps vanilla
1 (1.4 oz) Nestle Crunch bar broken into pieces          2 cups flour
1/4 cup chopped pecans                                              1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, softened                                                 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar                                                    1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar                                                             1 cup vanilla or white chips
2 eggs
ICING:
2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 Tbs milk
2 tsp strawberry or raspberry extract
1-2 drops red food coloring

In a food processor (I used magic bullet), combine the oats, candy bar and pecans.  Cover and process until finely chopped; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and reserved oat mixture; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Combine the Icing ingredients until smooth; drizzle over cookies.  Let stand until set.  Store in an airtight container.

This recipe comes from Linda Wheeler Sparks in Severna Park, Maryland - she says that with the chips and strawberry drizzle - that each bite of this cookie is packed with flavor.  You know what Linda, I think my pregnant friend Chelsea would agree with you as she could not get enough of this cookie at the cabin weekend.

#160 Coconut Oatmeal Crispies
This cookie is the epitome of why I do this project.  This cookie would be one I would have never made, for several reasons:
1) It's in the slice and bake chapter - immediately signaling that this is a harder cookie (it really wasn't though)
2) It's not chocolate
3) - I guess that's it
This cookie is super good, unbelievable - as Mike says - it gets a first round by in the March Madness style tournament.

1 cup butter-flavored shortening                              2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup sugar                                                              1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar                                                  1 cup flaked coconut
2 eggs                                                                     1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla                                                            1 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.  Combine the oats, flour, coconut, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Shape into two 6 in rolls; wrap each roll in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.  (I think you need to refrigerate for several hours - these were not firm enough after 1 hour).

Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4-in slices.  Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

This recipe comes from Mary Schmidt in Eau Claire, WI - this was a recipe handed down from the 1930's - she bakes them for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren now.

#161 Malted Milk Ball Brownies
I should mention why I made the coconut oatmeal crispies; I made those and these for a family bbq that I decided to throw.  We used to go out to my Aunts farm; it feels like at least once a summer, to have a summer party.  We don't seem to do that anymore, so I invited my family and my Aunts family over to my house (out here in Roseville country) so that we could ride the fabulous bike trails - although my sister points out they live in Mpls where the parks have been voted one of the best in the country or something.  Anyways, I have a large yard, we've been doing work on it, and it seemed time to use it.  So I set up the badminton net (which I bought at Target that day specifically for the occasion), set up croquet, set up the pool and grilled the burgers.  Technically Mike grilled the burgers - I did everything else.
The brownies were good - five smiley faces from both of us.

This one's easy - Make a pan of brownies from a fudge brownie mix - before baking it - stir in 1 cup of chopped malted milk brownies.  Bake per directions.  For frosting, melt 1 cup chocolate chips and 2 tbs butter.  Stir in 2 tbs milk and 1/4 tsp vanilla.  Spread on brownies.  add 1/3 cup crushed malted milk balls on top of frosting.

 #162 Pecan Cheddar Crisps
I grew up in a neighborhood where mostly everyone knew each other; it felt like a small town; though it was actually a big city - Minneapolis.  But Northeast Minneapolis is pretty special.  As my mom likes to say, wherever you go, you first find out how someone is connected to Northeast Minneapolis, because everyone is.
I wanted the same for my children.  A small town where they could walk to friends, ride their bikes outside (without me hovering), know the neighbors and neighbors would know them and not hesitate to stop them from running out into the street or something.  Mike made me move out of Northeast though - he couldn't get over living in the city - didn't matter that he even admits that Mpls is a pretty nice city -he couldn't get over it.  Don't ask me why I'm still married to him.   Anyways, we did okay - we're in Roseville now (15 minutes away from Northeast).  I'm in almost a cul-de-sac area.  We even have a neighborhood map with everyone's names, numbers and emails on it.  So it has potential.
Anyways, this neighborhood hosts a once monthly gathering of the ladies to get together and drink wine and chat.  I've lived here 2 years now and felt that I should maybe finally host one of the gatherings.  I felt a lot of pressure; this was the first time I was having people to my house (other than family and close friends, and let's face it, who cares if the windows are clean).  So I made my desserts, got my wine and snacks at Trader Joe's (because that seems to be the thing here) and picked up the toys (I did more than that, but I don't want to show how neurotic I am).
This was one of the cookies.  Fortunately, it was just one of the snacks, because, I'll just say - you don't want the recipe for this one.  It's made with cheddar cheese, butter, paprika, I know, right.  The submitter of this recipe does say - it's more of an appetizer - though she calls it a "super party appetizer" - I disagree.

#163 Raspberry Truffle Brownies
Fortunately, I had these also for the gathering - These are by far a 5 smiley face bar.  Heavenly.  Mike didn't like it, because he's crazy - no, because he does not like raspberries.  These melted in your mouth, plus, they look fancy - so that was a plus.

6 squares bittersweet chocolate (1 oz each), chopped              1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, cubed                                                              1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs                                                                                     1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar                                                                                1 cup fresh raspberries
1 tsp vanilla
Frosting
6 squares bittersweet chocolate (1 oz each), chopped
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbs seedless raspberry ham
1 tsp vanilla
12 fresh raspberries

In a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth.  In a bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla.  Stir in chocolate mixture.  Combine flour, baking soda, slat; gradually add to chocolate mixture.  Gently fold raspberries.

Spread into a greased 9-in square baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes - until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.

For frosting, in a microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate, cream and jam.  Microwave at 50% power for 2-3 minutes or until smooth; stirring twice.  Transfer to a small bowl; stir in vanilla.  Place in a bowl of ice water; stir for 3-5 minutes.  Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.

Cut a small hole in a corner of a heavy-duty resealable plastic bag; insert #825 star tip.  Fill with 1/2 cup frosting.  Spread remaining frosting over brownies.  Cut into 12 bars.  Pipe a chocolate rosette in the center of each brownie; top with a raspberry.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until frosting is set.

This recipe comes from Agnes Ward in Stratford, Ontario.  She says that this is a sophisticated dessert and that the rich, fudge-like brownie is bursting with fresh, plump red raspberries.  It's topped with a "dreamy, bittersweet ganache...true perfection".

#164 Can't Leave Alone Bars
It's the last daycare bbq.  Not because Joey has graduated onto school or anything; he's only 18 months, but because our favorite daycare person ever (and my cousin-in-law) is retiring from home daycare.  Maybe I could make her cookies everyday or something to bribe her to continue.
This short-cut creation had to be quick.  I was down and out the day prior to the bbq due to what turns out to be hand-foot and mouth disease.  That's a nasty little illness.  It's the flu, except afterwards you get sores on your hands and feet and a sore throat.  It pretty much sucks and I assume I have Joey to thank for it.
Anyways, the bars - don't worry, I was already sick so the contagious part of the disease is supposedly over - plus I always wash my hands before I bake and I never lick my fingers, spoons or what-nots.  There were quick and easy, fortunately.  Nothing too special - white cake bars with chocolate middle layer and more white cake on top - and since this is already a very long post and I'm tired of writing up recipes - I'm done.

Online presence

Every time I finally get around to blogging about the latest cookies I've made, I tell myself, I will be better; I'll make sure to write about the next cookie right after the event happens that I originally made the cookie for; yeah, I don't.  I need a different online presence I feel.  I love doing my cookie project, and I love sharing what I'm doing, I just don't like the blogging part.  Maybe it's because I have only a handful of followers.  And when I say handful, I mean like a handful of balls, where you can only hold like 2 or 3 and that's a handful.

So what about some other social media.  I don't think twitter is the right venue, you can only post a few characters.  Facebook only reaches my friends.  Instagram is only for pictures really.  What I feel like I need is a twitter like presence where I maybe take a picture of the cookie, or other picture that somehow involves the cookie, and then can write a short paragraph about it - like what's going on in my life at the time of making the cookie - because that's what the whole blog is supposed to be about - my life happenings centered around these cookies.

Suggestions?  Though I'm not sure what suggestions I'll get from my 2-3 followers - but they are good followers - the best - excellent.

Until I switch venues:

#156 Cookies in a Jiffy
I would not recommend going to a cabin with 7 boys ranging from 8-13.  I went to a "girls' weekend" up at the cabin that my sister-in-law cajoled me into.  She went up with her friend and no kids.  The problem was they combined this with other moms who did bring their kids - not quite the kid-free weekend I was going for.  You know it's bad when one boy says (during a water and sand throwing fight) "I know, Let's throw the spaghetti sauce."
These cookies were not only made in a jiffy, they were eaten in a jiffy.  A yellow cake mix combined with oats and m and m's.

#157 Simply fudgy brownies
I decided the cookies in a jiffy did not make a sufficient amount for the "girls only" cabin weekend.  Brownies are also quick and easy - these too were gone in a jiffy.  As the title suggests, just a simple fudge brownie.

#158 Root Beer Cookies
Mike found a pinterest recipe; he's always finding things on facebook and such for me to make; I should probably be thankful he does not have a pinterest account.  Anyway, he found a root beer cookie recipe that I should make.  I'm not sure why he even brought it to me, as he knows I only make cookies and bars from the book.  Fortunately, I told him, I have a root beer cookie recipe in the book.  Made from real root beer concentrate, it's a good thing Mike has a soda stream maker, because I could not find root beer concentrate or extract or anything, this cookie has root beer in the cookie as well as root beer in the frosting.

Mike and I may be a little jaded.  We're tough in our ratings.  Everyone who ate these cookies - softball potluck - loved them, however - Mike and I only gave them 3's.  Mike raised his rating after everyone else raved on them.

I've actually made #159, and I think I'll make another batch today, but it's for this weekend - friends cabin weekend - and I don't like to write about the cookie until I have "material" to work with.  The cabin weekend with friends usually gives some good material.

I can hear!

There's been a lot of opportunity for cookie baking this past month or so.  Because of numerous cabin weekends and a trip down to Indiana, the mixer has been on quite a bit.  This has led to Joey's new trick; he has learned what his ears are for.  I was making batch number 152, when Joey just stood by the counter looking up at the mixer.  He put has fingers in his ears (he likes to point out his body parts now - ears being one of his favorites) and then took his fingers out again.  He repeated that several times and got a big grin on his face; so darn proud of himself.

#151 Toffee Oat Cookies
Since Mike was going to the cabin for Poker weekend with the guys which is a little silly because all they do is play bridge and they were up there Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so not even on the weekend.  Anyways, and he was going to be fed by my Uncle and Dad, I figured sending a batch of cookies was the least I could do.  Plus, I kind of neglected Father's Day, so this counted for that too.  
I'm not sure why I felt obligated, it really should be Mike who should feel he should do something, but it seems like guys aren't like that.  Just like he always says I can just buy something to bring to a potluck - I feel that's a cop-out - I really should make something to bring.

Anyways, I sent this batch up.  I heard the guys at the cabin almost called to have my bring some more up since this batch was gone by the first night.

#152 Peanut Cookies
I tried a new system.  I'm too picky when going through to decide which cookie I should make.  I told Mike to pick a page number - and then I'd pick a recipe from that page.  His page number was 139 - which of course was a recipe from the shaped sensations chapter (usually a bit more work).  So we ended up with a peanut butter cookie shaped to look like a peanut.  I'd put a picture up, but I forgot to take one.
The system worked well though.  We went to the cabin with all the nieces and nephews and such - the 7 dozen batch was gone by the third day.

#153 Raspberry Walnut Shortbread
We tried the system again (but this time, limited page numbers so that I'd bake a bar), however the recipe we picked from page 240, called for frozen or fresh cranberries.  I could not find cranberries anywhere - sure, they're not in season, but you'd think I'd be able to find them in the freezer section.  I overruled Mike's selection and ended up with something I had all the ingredients for in house - I'm glad I made this one at the cabin - I got rid of a recipe that I only ranked as a 1 smiley face.  Too dry of a crust; though I've never been a shortbread fan.

#154 Chocolate Topped Peanut Butter Spritz and #155 Toffee Crunch Grahams
Another trip down to Indiana to see the in-laws - fourth of July weekend - plus a family reunion in Ohio.  The weekend was full of burgers (really full of burgers, I'm fine not seeing another burger or hot dog all summer), games, family and sitting around doing not much of anything.  However, Mike and I got a little criticized for being too hard on our rating system.  Mike's cousin Amber specifically, thinks that family should get to overrule some of our ratings.  Mike and I only rated the toffee crunch grahams a 3.5 and a 4 - the cousins and Uncles are outraged - it should absolutely be a 5 - according to them.  I kept pointing out however, they have not tried all the different recipes, therefore what they think might be a five, once they taste some others, they might rate lower.  We did concoct an idea about the March Madness style cookie contest (when I finish the whole project) - the bracket will have categories (like March Madness has the West, and East or whatever they have) - we'll have the non-chocolate category, chocolate, and maybe two more.  That way we can determine the best cookie in each category and then come up with the best one overall.

BTW, the toffee crunch grahams - by far - the easiest batch I have made.  Just brown sugar and butter melted together and poured over graham crackers with almonds sprinkled on top.  However, the MIL wanted to again change the recipe and sprinkle pecans over it.  I thought chocolate chips sprinkled on top would also be excellent.  The peanut butter spritz - oh so good the first day or two, after sitting out in heat and humidity - oh so not good.  I must be craving peanut butter or something, if you notice - two peanut butter cookies in this batch, one in peanut form, the other pressed out of the cookie press (with chocolate drizzled on top - told you it was good).

Look for another post in about a week - should have two or three more batches done what with another cabin weekend and potluck coming up.  Speaking about potlucks - quick poll - are they called potlucks - or carry-ins.  Whose even heard of carry-ins?  Comments?

Summer Break

Whoohoo, summer vacation!  I'm not sure who's more excited about the start of summer, kids or teachers.  This post starts with Memorial weekend (technically summer had not started as I still had two weeks left of school after the weekend, but you know..)  

Memorial Weekend Adventures:

Took on my nephew Brandon in tennis.  He has now beat his mom in tennis and felt like he was ready to take me on - as the match wore on; he asked if he could have some of my water.  As he explained, he didn't bring any because he thought he'd get me over with rather quickly.  You'll be glad to know I was victorious.  

Joey discovered sand, and sand toys.  

Also, had his first s'more.  As he ate it, he said Mmmmm, the whole time.

Also, ate some cookies:

#147 White Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

This is the cookie I was planning to make for my mother-in-law for when she visited; but she asked for substitutions.  NO COOKIES FOR YOU!  She still got cookies, just not this cookie.  I don't feel I can do substitutions; or else the judging could be all off; it'd mess up the whole project.  So this cookie, with hazelnuts and white chocolate chips went up to the cabin for Memorial weekend.  By the way MIL - your son rated these a 5 : )

#148 Apple-Oat Breakfast Treats

I broke a rule; I doubled this recipe.  Normally I never double because if I need more cookie than what a batch makes, I normally just make a batch of another cookie (crossing more off the list).  However, at the cabin, for memorial weekend, my family of 18, does a big brunch where everyone makes something.  This cookie only makes 10 servings and it's the only breakfast type cookie in the book; so I needed to double it.  The cookies were quite large; oatmeal cookie with apple pie filling in the middle.  The kids mostly just licked up the pie filling and left the cookie.  But my Joey ate the whole thing.  

#149 Double Chocolate Cookies

Our neighborhood does a block party at the beginning of summer so everyone can connect again after the long winter.  We walked over between the rainstorms of the day (MN sure seems to be having rainy springs lately, or has it always been that way), and I was immediately questioned about what I'm doing in my yard.  We added three rain gardens late last summer with river rock swales between the gardens so that hopefully, this year, we don't have a frog/moss/duck habitat in half the backyard like we did for half of the summer last year.  Unfortunately, due to probably designer error, we have a nice little duck pond; it's not draining as perfectly as it should.  Updates on that project to come, I'm sure.  

Anyways, Joey had fun going up and down the neighbor's porch steps and thought it was a great game for me to catch him over and over and over again as he tried to go in the street.  And, Mike was happy because I brought home quite a few of the 9 dozen double chocolate cookies that I brought for the pot-luck (that both Mike and I and probably Joey too, rated 5 smiley faces.  

#150 Chunky Mocha cookies

Okay, now I can say Yay, summer. I was told that all teachers have at least one of the two vices: they either drink coffee, or they smoke.  I think you could add, they like treats.  Treats (chocolate, cookies, cake, candy, you name it) put in the teacher's lounge at 7:30am, will be gone before 9:30.  Now I don't drink coffee or smoke - what does that say about me as a teacher I wonder, but I figured I'd make a batch of coffee like cookies for the end of the year teacher party.  Unfortunately, with a principal leaving, 5th grade completion ceremony, and retirement happening, there was a lot of cake during the school day and at the end of the year party.  Plus, other people brought some treats, so I brought many of these mocha cookies home.  Mike and I rated them a 3, but other people told me they're really good. So how do we include a rating for that - because at the end of all this, we will take all the five smiley faced cookies and do the March Madness style tournament to find the best cookie, however, both Mike and I do not like coffee, maybe this cookie really is a five?  What to do?

Life happens

I see it's been a few months since I've posted.  I've fallen a little behind my once a week quota. I guess that's what happens when you decide to go back and finish up that pesky master's degree (1 class down, 1 more to go and a thesis to write).  Fortunately this month I should be able to catch up, as it's now spring and I have lots of bar-b-ques and such to go to.

#142 3/28/14  Crisp and Chewy cookies
I took a six week break after Joey's birthday party - the whole zebra cookie, leaky kitchen experience gave me pause.  But I had my girls weekend (with spouses included) at the cabin and brought a batch up.  Unfortunately I needed something a little stronger than cookies after the experience I had up there.
After being at the cabin for about an hour, while Mike and I were waiting for our friends to show up, I sat down to relax on the couch after all the work of unpacking.  My dog was being annoying as I tried to watch HGTV - backyard remodel.  The dog was growling and scratching at a corner.  I looked over to tell her to hush it and I saw some sort of little creature on the ground hissing at my dog.  I was alone at this point; no idea where Mike was.  Joey was asleep in the other room.  No way was I going to get off the couch.  I started yelling for Mike - he finally comes out of the three season porch (he was building a fire) and said "Whatya want?"  I screamed incomprehensible words and pointed.
He said "What is it?!"
Me: "Ba, ba, ba BAT!"
"Whatya want me to do"
"Be a man and take care of it!  That is YOUR job!"  I'm not normally one to follow typical gender stereotypes, but in some cases, they make sense.
I then had to tell him how to take care of the bat.  For being a farm boy, my husband was lacking some basic rodent/pest skills; apparently all he ever had to deal with were mice.  He did a sufficient enough job though - he pinned it down with a broom, put a bucket over it and trapped it in the bucket and tossed it out onto the deck (in a pile of snow).  We then got to look at it closely and watch this angry little bat and it's tiny little teeth as it seemed to be suffering and cursing the world.  I then felt bad for it and wanted to do something.  Mike was not agreeable to that idea.  Later, when my friends showed up, I went to show them the bat, but it was gone.  I have no idea how it got away, or where it went.  There was no way it could've flew off, it was stuck in the snow.  Anybody out there know about bats?  The current theory we are going with (courtesy of my friend Chelsea), is that it sent out it's bat signals and its bat friends came and rescued it.

Anyway, the cookies: 5 smiley faces from Mike (as usual) and 3 from me.

#143 Easter Sugar Sandwich Cookies
Happy Easter!
Here's another post about how hard it is to find the cookie cutters I need.  I needed a small chick or small rabbit for this cookie - nope.  I ended up with a large bunny head - so I had bunny head sandwich cookies. You'd think I learn by now and just go through the book, see what I need and order them all from amazon.
You know how I dislike cookie cutter cookies?  The second type of cookie that's the least fun to make are the sandwich cookies.  The worst cookie: cookie cutter sandwich cookies.  I had to roll out twice as many rabbit heads than actual finished cookie.

This cookie was supposed to be a round sandwich cookie with jelly spread between the cookies with a small bunny or chick cut out of the top so the jelly peeked through... that would've been cute.  Instead I ended up with a bunny head sandwich cookie with jelly in between,  it was okay, but not super cute.
The sugar cookie was really good; nice and fat.  My brother-in-law would have loved it (he really likes my mother-in-laws frosted Christmas sugar cookies).  When I get through all 623, this will be a good sugar cookie to make with frosting on it.

Joey enjoying a rabbit cookie

#144 4/19/14  Chewy Cinnamon Cookies

Alas, disappointment.  After my co-workers raved about my cookies the last time I brought snacks for a meeting (batch #141), I felt I set a precedent and that any cookie I bring has to be as good or better.  I didn't get any rave reviews on this one.  I was told they were good, but no going on and on like the last cookie; though Mike and I both gave these a five.  And as my sister-in-law points out (as she was looking through my book) - I'm a tough rater.  Mike hands out his five like they're candy, and I'm stingy with my fives.  So, still good, just not rave cookies.

#145 Irish Mint Brownies (today)

As I mentioned, my sister-in-law was flipping through my book - she's in town this weekend - and just like my sister-in-law, she picked a cookie (actually a brownie) that was way more work than it should have been.  To be fair, she just left the book open to a brownie she thought would be good - she didn't ask me to make it - I took that upon myself.  

These brownies had a base, a filling and a topping.  The base went according to plan - the filling and the topping went very very wrong.  The whipped cream/white chocolate/ Irish cream creamer (with Andes mints folded in) that should have whipped and formed "stiff peaks" did not do that.  So instead of a whipped filling, it was more of a liquidy filling.   The chocolate icing that had to go in the fridge in order to get hard, did indeed get hard, on the bottom of the lid - since the ham that I needed to defrost got set on the lid.  Not sure if my in-laws are just trying to be nice or if it was actually really good - my sister-in- law gave it 7 1/2 smiley faces (five smileys for the taste, and two and a half for the effort).

#146 Chips Galore Cookies (today)

All I want from my new neighborhood is for my son to be able to grow up in a neighborhood with best/life-long friends like I had from my neighborhood.  I was the only girl in a group of boys growing up.  Many of these friends I still see today and keep in touch.  Even when we go a long time without seeing each other, nothing changes - these friends are like family.  Tragically and suddenly, one of the neighborhood dads died recently.  My friend that this happened to is my oldest friend, I consider him a brother.  To make matters worse, he and his wife just closed on a house this week and there's a lot of work to be done; his dad was planning on helping him.  So true to neighborhood form, we are banding together to be there and help with what we can.  I may not be the best with tools, but I can be grunt labor, and I can bring cookies.  So tomorrow, that's what I'll be doing - I think tearing down wallpaper, and I'll be bringing these cookies.  They got good ratings - so hopefully I'll do this dad proud (he was the stay-at-home dad for us neighborhood kids and famous for his brownies - but all I can remember is his chocolate chip cookies - I seem to be the only one that remembers him making chocolate chip cookies).  

That's a lot of cookies

12 dozen cookies
9 cups of dry ingredients (flour, 2 kinds of oatmeal)
4 cups of chocolate chips
Over 3 cups of sugar
3 cups of peanuts
2 cups of butter
2 cups of raisins
1 cup of coconut

All in one cookie


#141  Raisin-Chip Oatmeal Cookies
It's my turn to bring treats for tomorrow's meeting.  Is there any question to what I'd bring.  Teachers like their sugar, so I had to make sure to bring enough.  I'm worried though; as I was baking these; I realized there are peanuts in them - with today's peanut fears, I wonder if I'm allowed to even bring these cookies into the building?

February has been a month of a lot of cookies.  Counting backwards:

#140 Zebra Butter Cookies
Joey is 1!  I can't believe it's been a year already.  We had a jungle themed birthday party for him.  I carried the jungle theme throughout the whole party.

How'd I do?

We had rhino meat, gorilla grapes, safari sunset, elephant dung, snake eggs, jungle juice and I made zebra cookies.  

A lot of work.  I'm hoping these are the hardest cookie in the book.  

All the work almost went to waste.  The day starts out with water dripping from my kitchen ceiling - and all over my cookie cookbook, several pages are rather wet.  However, the book is quite thick, so I am able to dry out the pages that got wet.  My dad comes over in the afternoon to figure out the problem.  Meanwhile in the day, I run several errands, clean a bit (fortunately I'm blessed to have a MIL who is helpful and willing to help with whatever is needed), deal with my SIL about not being able to take a shower (as we don't know where the leak is coming from), get things ready and have a crabby Joe.  As I finish up the scrap dough that is left, the recipe only makes 18 zebra cookies but leaves you with a lot of leftover dough, my dad and Mike figure out the problem.  They then determine there's also water in the light fixture.  They unfasten the light fixture, meaning to pour it into a bucket.  I just take out a cookie sheet from the oven and am ready to transfer them.  The light fixture is heavy and they miss the bucket and ALL THAT WATER dumps on my cookie sheet and me.  Heads would've rolled if it was the zebras.  Luckily, I had put the zebras in a tupperware, just a dozen of scrap cookies are ruined.  Oh, and my patience for the day.  Needless to say, there is wine with our Valentine's dinner out.   I come home to a clean kitchen after dinner - thank you again mom-in-law.

#139 Butter Cookies

Valentine's Day!  Joey had a Valentine's/Birthday party at daycare.  I had a potato bar at work that I had to bring treats to.  Killed two birds with one stone.  This heart shaped cookie (made with the cookie press) with butter/powdered sugar frosting went to both places. 

#138 Dipped Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Peanut butter spread between two ritz crackers - dipped in either white chocolate or regular chocolate - that's all these cookies are.  I was making batch #137 for my crafty women retreat.  I asked the group to choose between two cookies.  One lady who is always doing everything for everybody else and who never asks for anything said "Anything with peanut butter?"  And then two minutes later took it back.  It seemed that she felt bad for even asking even though she's always doing for others.  So I made this batch (that only makes 9 cookies) for her to have her own personal batch.

#137 Coffee Shortbread

This is one of the choices I gave the crafty group.  Mike and I didn't think we'd like them (we didn't), so this was a good way to make this batch and get rid of it.  A shortbread cookie (with coffee in it) with chocolate and white chocolate drizzled on top.  It was populer.

#135 Whoopie Pie  #136 Graham Cracker Brownies 

Super Bowl Weekend!  I always struggle to find a cookie that matches the teams for the Super Bowl.  I went a different route this year.  

A football cookie.  

I also made the Graham Cracker brownies just in case I didn't have enough food.  Graham crackers mixed with chocolate chips and condensed milk.  

That's a lot of cookies!

Brrr part 2

The last blog post inspired me to bake a batch.  I whipped up a small batch of coconut chocolate chip cookies - batch #134.  It made 1 1/2 dozen, nothing complicated - a perfect batch to have just a few cookies around the house.  

This batch brought two questions to mind:

#1: What's with extracts?  What exactly is an extract and why does there seem to be extracts for everything - and why do they smell so strong?  I could make this batch today because I had coconut extract lying (or is it laying - it isn't telling lies, but then again, it's not laying down - I think it is lying) around my house.  Along with coconut extract I have lemon extract, imitation rum (is it just pretending), imitation maple extract, orange extract, peppermint extract, almond and of course vanilla.  What is it?

#2 - What's with this whole "air bake technology".  My sister-in-law gave me air bake cookie sheets.  What exactly is the "technology" that goes into them?  All I know is that my cookies tend to turn out way softer, which isn't always a good thing.  I have to let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before trying to remove them because they're so soft they squish up if I try to remove them.  Anybody know tricks for using this "new technology", because I don't trust them.  I don't think cookie baking needs any technology - except for my Kitchenaid Mixer - that's a god send.  

Brrr...

You would think with all these cold days of ours in MN I would have made a few batches.  I've only made two batches this whole month of January.  I had time.  I've only had to work eight days this entire month - we've had 5 days of no school due to unbearably cold weather.  Instead of baking Joey and I have been hanging around the house in sweats building forts, playing blocks - me reading and scrapbooking - and no baking.
Partly, I haven't done any baking because I still had christmas cookies I was trying to get rid of - we did not need any more sweets in this house.  We're now to the point where we're down to just a couple kinds of Christmas cookies left; and frankly, those are stale - so they're being tossed out.  I may bake a small batch today - if I can tear myself away from reading and scrapbooking - I really am content just doing that.

#132 Oaty Cereal Treats
We had our daycare Christmas party - having kids really does increase the number of opportunities I have to make cookies.  I look at it as opportunities - I suppose normal people look at it as another thing we have to go to and I need to bring something.  Maybe not.
Mike described these as rice krispie bars - but they're not.  They're Cheerio bars - with peanut butter and M & M's.   Great for a kidtogether.

#133 Honey-peanut butter Cookie
I owed some thank yous to some co-workers who gave Joey some hand-me downs - a box (a large box - we're talking Costco size box) full of board books, and a Leapfrog learning table.  I wanted to wait till a little bit after the holidays - as I'm sure they had plenty of sweets at their house.  They are pretty much as described in the title - a honey/peanut butter cookie.