More cookies! Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk by Julie Van Rosendaal

We were expecting some company yesterday, so I tried a “new to me” cookie recipe recently posted by nutritionist, Julie Van Rosendaal.

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk
A great cookie recipe by Julie Van Rosendaal

On Tuesday mornings, I enjoy listening to Julie on the Calgary Eyeopener on CBC Radio One.  You can listen to her here.  She's also the author (or co-author) of six cookbooks, a freelance writer and creator of a great food blog, Dinner With Julie.

Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies – what an extraordinarily long name for a cookie!

Think “crisp oatmeal cookie with yummy overtones of peanut butter and chocolate” - very tasty! In fact, they were given a gold seal of approval by my “testers”. I'd definitely make them again.

NOTES: I followed the recipe as written, using chocolate chips (rather than chunks) and chunky peanut butter (the only kind allowed in our house) instead of smooth. The recipe makes about 3-4 dozen. They really do spread, so space them out on your cookie tray. Based on a question/answer in the comment section, I put some of the dough (shaped into balls) in the freezer to bake later as needed.

I love that little gadget!  A lot less messy than scooping
up dough with a spoon.  Freeze the balls of cookie dough
separately so they don't stick, then pop in a container.

G.'s Refrigerator Cookies

Do you save little slips of paper like this one?

Tucked inside a book...

Memories of sitting around the kitchen table after school...

If I picked all the kids up, G. always had something hot out of the oven. A good friend.  A good deal!!

Now, look again. G. only ever wrote the ingredients! If you insisted, she'd write down the oven temperature. I'd always have to scribble my own little notes on the side.

These little guys are super easy – a very old-style cookie, probably from G.'s mother.  They'd be simple to make with kids.

G.'s Refrigerator Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Mix all at once in the mixer (about 4 minutes).

Gather dough and divide into four balls.

Roll each ball into a snake shape.

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, parchment paper or wax paper.

Refrigerate.

Slice and bake at 300 degrees C for 12 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen small cookies.

Recipe can be easily halved. 

Chocolate cookies: Melt and mix 2 squares of unsweetened

chocolate into dough.

Want something a little fancier? Whisk a small drizzle of maraschino juice into a heaping tablespoon of icing sugar. Spread a little on each cookie and add sprinkles.

Or, instead of slicing your cookies, take a teaspoon of dough, roll into a ball and flatten into a disk. Press one side firmly into rainbow sprinkles. Bake as described above.

Young visitors this weekend? Here are 6 suggestions for things to do...

To our southern neighbours, Happy Thanksgiving!  Up in Canada, we can feel the excitement building!  Indulge!  Enjoy! The diet starts next week, eh?

Kids coming to visit?  Sometimes it's stressful thinking of things for them to do, especially if there are no kids (and therefore no toys, games, books, etc.) in your home.  Here are a few suggestions...

1.  Family walks, visiting your local playground and even a trip to your local indoor swimming pool should all be on your "list".  

2.  In addition, stop by your public library and stock up on books.  From the fiction section, check out stories by these authors: Patricia Polacco, Roald Dahl, Ursula LeGuin, Jan Brett,  Eric Carle, Doreen Cronin, Barbara Reid, Joanna Cole. 

3.  Kids love to cook.  As long as there's some supervision as they use the mixer and cut the cherries, this cookie recipe is a simple recipe for kids to try.  It's a family favourite in our house.

Whipped Shortbread
from The Best of Bridge

Whipped Shortbread

from The Best of Bridge

1 cup butter

1  1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup icing sugar

Beat for 10 minutes in mixer.

Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet.

maraschino cherries

Cut cherries into four.

Dry on a paper towel.

Place cherry bits on cookies.  

Bake at 350ºF for about 17 minutes.

Note:  Check out the Best of Bridge website if you haven't already.  This recipe is listed there, but be careful.  The time on the website is incorrect.

4.  Another recipe kids love to try is Kool Aid playdough.  You'll need one packet of Kool Aid powder plus flour, salt and oil.  A hunt around the kitchen - cookie cutters, toothpicks, straws, plastic knife and fork - and you're all set to go.  

5.  Since it's Thanksgiving, you might want to view these four short videos so you and your young visitors can learn more about the first Thanksgiving.  They're very well done.  You'll enjoy them, too.

6.  For older kids, teens and adults, viewing Into Poverty: Living on One Dollar, would be very relevant and a great starting point for a meaningful discussion this weekend.  This video is about four young people who visit rural Guatemala.  They allow themselves 56 dollars each for 56 days.  They learn a lot about themselves and the reality of what life is like for so many people.  Heather Sanders, a guest writer on The Pioneer Woman, provides a link and describes this documentary and sharing it with her children.

Have a great weekend,

Maggie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Grandma B's Peanut Butter  Cookies

Tonight I'm baking...

... peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!  Yum!

It's Grandma B's Peanut Butter cookie recipe - one of the recipes at my daughter's "Recipe Shower".  

Each guest brought a favourite recipe AND a recipe for a happy marriage.  Grandma B was the groom's grandmother.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

Cream well in mixer.

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

Add and beat well.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix in flour and soda.  Add chocolate chips.

Roll into balls and press with fork.

Bake at 375 for 10 - 12 minutes.

Makes about four dozen.

Now for a recipe for a happy marriage!  This message is from the groom's aunt - wonder how many cookies she ate as a child? : )

Recipe for a Successful Marriage

from Aunt S.

(My first try I wasn't very successful, but I learned a lot!)

Enjoy the things you share, those things will always be there.

~~~

Plan ahead together, it's much more fun to work on a common goal.

~~~

Laugh together, a lot.  Have fun, enjoy the moments you share.

~~~

Keep your friends - each of you - friends are very important all your lives.

~~~

Talk it out - even if the first words out of your mouth are, "This isn't going to come out right..."  At least it's out there to talk about.

Easter Meringues

Today I have a great little recipe to share - perfect for Easter! 

The original idea came from a newspaper article I clipped a number of years ago.  It uses few ingredients, can be made ahead and is easily transported if you need something special to take to a potluck.  

Start by making these little meringue cookies. 

Mini Meringues

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Use an electric mixer with a large bowl.

Beat until the whites are foamy.

1 cup sugar

Continue to beat as you very slowly add the sugar.

Beat until thick and glossy.

Use a teaspoon to make small mounds of meringue 

on parchment lined baking sheet.

To make nest shape, dip finger in water, then 

make  indent in meringue.  Repeat for each cookie.

Bake at 200 degrees for 90 minutes.

These little cookies can be made in advance and stored in a sealed container at room temperature.  Four egg whites will make about 60 tiny cookies.

The original recipe calls for lemon curd - just add a tiny teaspoon of filling in each cookie.  If you like meringues crisp, fill just before serving.  If you like them soft, fill a few hours ahead of time.

Don't they look like little fried eggs?  LOL  They'd be a fun addition to a brunch table!!

Today I added some little Cadbury mini-eggs to make Easter nests, but you could do just about anything with these meringues...whipped cream and fruit (mini Pavlova) or a red fruit or jam filling for Christmas...lots of possibilities!!

You can find this recipe and many other great treats at Weekend Potluck # 59

# 86 Two great gadgets from Oxo

Oxo tools make a difference.  It's so frustrating working with a gadget that's uncomfortable or doesn't do the job.

Oxo Good Grips Peeler

My Oxo Good Grips peeler is at least 15 years old.  Still looks like new, works like a charm, fits my hand well and I can peel potatoes until the cows come home!  (No cows involved...just an expression!)

Oxo Small Scoop

My latest gadget is an Oxo cookie scoop. I chose the smallest of three sizes.

It easily handled making Soft Ginger Snaps (sticky, soft dough) and also my Chocolate Chip Shortbread (firm dough).  Uniform shape and size, quick and clean - great tool : )

(This is an unsolicited opinion.)

# 84 Chocolate Chip Shortbread

One of my favourite shortbread recipes, today's treat is from Jean Pare's Cookies (1988).  I always make a batch at Christmas but also enjoy them at other times of the year.   

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix by hand or in a sturdy mixer until it forms a ball.

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Mix in chocolate chips.

Roll into one inch balls and arrange on ungreased cookie sheet.

Press balls with fork.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes.

Makes 5 dozen.

Check out Weekend Potluck # 48

for this recipe and other yummy treats!

Soft Ginger Snaps

Hi!  It's me!  Glad to be back....finally!

Today I've started my Christmas baking.  A little tardy, you ask?

Just trying to save myself from all those calories.  Stashing things away in the freezer doesn't help.  I'm still willing to nibble... :  )

Soft Ginger Snaps

Today's recipe was given to me by a dear, sweet German lady about 15 years ago and I think I've made it every year since.  

It's easy and reliable and makes a lot!  I often just make half the recipe and I still get about 3  1/2 dozen (tiny) cookies.

Soft Ginger Snaps

3/4 cup margarine, melted

1  1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup table molasses

Cream margarine and sugar well.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add molasses; mix well.

4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ginger 

Combine dry ingredients and add to liquid ingredients 

(about 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time).

Roll into tiny, one inch balls.  Dip and roll balls in sugar.

Place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.

Boterkoek... a special treat for St. Nicholas' Day (December 6th)

Scrolling through an old cookbook this morning, I rediscovered a recipe one of my "mothers" gave me for Christmas my first year teaching.  

Boterkoek (butter cookies) is a Dutch treat.  It was often featured on December 6th, St. Nicholas' Day.  If you enjoy the richness of shortbread, you'll love this recipe.

Boterkoek for St. Nicholas' Day

This is the recipe I was given.  

Boterkoek

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 egg yolk

Mix (low speed) until dough forms into a ball. (3-4 minutes) 

Knead on counter for about five minutes.

Pat into a greased 8" pie plate.

Glaze with some of the egg white.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes.  It should be 

nicely browned on top, but the inside should be slightly soft.

Cool before cutting into very thin wedges.

Cookies do not keep long, but if baked until done, 

they become too hard.

I'll definitely make this again, but here are a few things I learned today...

Because of that warning not to bake too long, I took mine out at 12 minutes.  Next time, I'd leave it in for a few minutes longer.  

When I googled other Boterkoek recipes to compare, I learned that many used almond flavouring and added almonds in a pattern on top.  I like the flavour of my version, but almonds would be nice to try.

A great website to check is The Dutch Table.  Their version of Boterkoek is similar, just a larger quantity and they've added vanilla and lemon!  A fancier  Boterkoek might also have almond paste sandwiched inside!  Yum!  

The Dutch Table shows how to press the traditional pattern on the top.  I tried pressing a design with tiny cookie cutters, but it didn't really show up well after baking. 

The Dutch Table - traditional pattern for Boterkoek

Would I make this again?  You bet!  Because it's a smaller quantity of dough and uses an 8" pie plate, it would be easy to make in a disposable, aluminum pan, perfect for a hostess gift.

See this recipe and other great treats at Weekend Potluck #44.

# 64 Many calories later..."fake" Betty Crocker Cookie Mix recipes

Yesterday, I discovered Heather at Fake-It-Frugal.

Her mission is to save money by replicating at home a wide variety of products....Bisquick, Windex and Betty Crocker mixes to name a few.

Oatmeal Raisin & Chocolate Chip

In the name of science, I  "researched and tested" the Fake Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes.  It takes only minutes to prep and store the dry mixes in ziplock bags, ready to grab and bake at a moment's notice.  The Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip turned out well. There are sugar and gingerbread recipes as well.  

Fake-It-Frugal also has a Brownie Mix I'd like to try.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

After how many years, I treated myself to a new mixer!  With company in the house, I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies and test out the mixer at the same time.  This recipe is an old favourite from a western Canadian cookbook first published in 1988.  Jean Pare has published more cookbooks than probably anyone else in Canada.  The recipes are simple, dependable and good.  I've been disappointed only a few times over many years.  Each book has its own focus.  This recipe is from her COOKIES book. The original version has nuts, but I don't include those.  Here's a picture of Jean...

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1  1/2   cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream the butter and brown sugar.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate.)

Stir in the dry ingredients, then add the chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.