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.

Carrot Muffins

My little girl has been going through a little slump on some of her breakfast foods, so I went on the search to find another muffin with hidden vegetables. In my search I came across these over at allrecipes.com and decided I would give them a try. The recipe was easy enough to follow and was completed in 45 minutes, just like the recipe said. The end product was tasty and the carrots were good and soft, so you really don't notice them. Now the sad news is that they were not well received by my soon to be 2 year old. When we would give her one to eat we were lucky to get her to eat even half a muffin, which I have no idea why, as I kind of liked them. They have a sort of light bran muffin flavor with a nice sweetness from the raisins and carrots, warm up in the oven with a little butter and they are delicious. I'm looking forward to having these in the freezer as a quick snack or maybe for breakfast on the go for me.

Ingredients
1 cup raisins
2 cups warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups shredded carrots

Directions
1. Combine raisins and water in a small bowl. Let soak for 15 minutes. Drain raisins, discard water and set raisins aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil and brown sugar; beat well. Combine egg mixture and flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Fold in carrots and drained raisins. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes before frosting.