Giant Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are my wife's all time favorite cookie, so when I found this recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook I had to make them. If you like your cookies fluffy and light then this is your recipe. My daughter loved making them and eating them, in fact I'm ashamed to say they did not last long.

I apologize for the photo, it's from my phone and it's the only record of these short lived cookies. I wasn't kidding when I said they didn't last very long.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup stick margarine or butter, softened
2 large eggs
3/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1/4 cup regular oats
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans(omitted for peanut allergy)
Cooking spray

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375º.
2. Beat sugar and margarine in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended 9about 4 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add applesauce and vanilla; beat well.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt in a bowl. Add to sugar mixtures; beat well. Stir in oats, raisins, and pecans.
4. Drop dough into 24 mounds 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375º for 14 minutes or until almost set. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen

Ginger Snap Cookies

A few weeks ago we celebrated both my Mother-in-laws and Father-in-laws 50th birthday, which is only a small accomplishment. We hosted the party and I was put in charge of cooking, no surprise there and it took little to convince me to do so. So we fixed simple nachos, nothing exciting there. But for dessert I made ginger snap cookies and chocolate chip cookies, which I've done before. It was the first time I've fixed ginger snaps and it's a bit of an art form in getting the dough onto to the cookie sheet, but it's pretty easy to figure out just the same.

I love ginger snaps and these cookies did not disappoint. I'm sure I'll be making these again some time soon.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and was posted by Elaine.
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375º F.
2 In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll each ball in white sugar before placing 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until center is firm. Cool on wire racks.

Yields 36 cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

I fixed this a few weeks ago with my daughter when it was just way to hot to be outside. I used a chocolate chip cookie recipe that was included with my Kitchen Aide Mixer. The recipe was for cookies, but I adapted it for a 8x12 cake pan. I followed the recipe until it came time to dish it all out, then I just simply placed the cookie dough into the pie pan and baked it at the same temperature as the recipe four about 30 minutes when the dough was nice and golden brown. The end result was delicious and I will be repeating this again, but with one slight change. The recipe makes enough dough for 54 cookies, so there is easily enough dough to fill a large bar pan. Which I'm sure would cook much more evenly and be a little closer to a cookie serving size making it much easier for those concerned about their calorie intake.

On a side note, I recently contacted Target about their Market Pantry Chocolate Chips and if they were produced on shared equipment. They stated that they are not produced on shared equipment and in fact safe for those with Peanut Allergies. This is a huge relief for us for two reasons; one being that their safe for our little girl and two, because its incredibly convenient since we don't have to special order them off of the internet.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to Speed 4 and beat about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl.

Turn to Stir speed. Gradually add baking soda, salt, and flour to sugar mixture and mix about 2 minutes. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Add chocolate chips. Turn to Stir Speed and mix about 15 seconds.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375ºF for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

For the cookie cake place the cookie dough in a large greased bar pan or a 9x13 pie pan. Bake at 375ºF for 30 minutes or until the cookie dough has turned a golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow pan to cool on a wire rack.

Sunshine No Bake Cookies!

What child, or adult for that matter, does not have a love affair with the chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies? I mean it's practically a staple of memories for me as it's tied to some really fun times. The only problem is that most recipes call for the use of peanut butter, something that I must avoid in my kitchen at all costs. Thankfully though with the ever expanding market of alternatives, there our two good options for those who must avoid peanut butter. Currently on the shelves I have found Soy Butter and Sunflower Butter. The Soy Butter tastes very similar to Peanut Butter and has a very similar consistency. The Sunflower Butter is made with the meats of sunflower seeds, so it has a different flavor of course but it's consistency is similar to Peanut Butter. I took a recipe that my wife had from a long time ago, well it looks more like an ingredient list but I was able to decifer it well enough to make the cookies. The end result was delicious with a hint of the sunflower seeds, making this a very good replacement for those with Peanut allergies or those wanting to try a new spin on a classic.

My Mother-in-law has made these cookies using the Soy Butter and stated that they came out delicious as well.



Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa
3 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup Sunflower butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Comine sugar milk, butter, and cocoa in a medium sauce pot. Bring to a boil and maintain for 2 minutes being sure to stir constantly. Remove pan from heat and add Sunflower Butter, oatmeal, and vanilla and mix well. Spoon the mixture onto waiting wax paper and allow to cool to set.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Sammie, my daughter, and I whipped these up a few weeks back on a rainy day. They were absolutely delicious and we had a blast making them. Sammie really enjoyed eating them, as did my wife, either on of them could keep their hands out of the cookie jar. I guess I'll have to wait a while in making these again for the sake our waistlines.

Recipe from Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book
Makes 48 cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and, if desired, cinnamon and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally, Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in in any remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats.
2. Drop dough by rounded tsp 2 inches apart onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375º oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden. cool on a cookie sheet for 1 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

I wound up with 28 cookies and had to cook them 11-12 minutes in my oven till they had nice golden edges.