Ginger Cookies

I often forget about these cookies, but my mom has made them my whole life.  They smell unbelievable and HAVE to be eaten right out of the oven.  Okay, they're still good later, too, but that's my favorite time to gobble them up.  Make sure you are hungry when you start baking them to save room!  :)

My mom's entire recipe card says something like "roll into balls, then sugar. bake at 375 for 9 min."  I mean, that's how simple these suckers are. 

You might not have molasses lying around, but you probably have all the rest of the ingredients.  Therefore, they're inexpensive, too!  You only need to buy molasses. :)

Find the recipe here.

White Chocolate-Dipped Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookies

Whew!  Long name.  But turns out not that difficult to make...plus they're pretty!

It's basically a normal cookie recipe made fancy by the dipped look!

When they're almost cool, you can start melting your chocolate.

This isn't really a necessary step but it sure is fun grabbing the heaviest hammer you can find in the garage and breaking the chocolate on the counter.  Don't worry, the counters came out unharmed!

And something I'm newly excited about...printable recipes!  I've had several people ask about them and I've always wanted to provide them but never knew how before.  Turns out, once I finally looked into it, it was extremely easy - using programs I'm already familiar with.

So!  (And I know you're just as excited as I am...) Click here for my very first printable recipe!

Bake-They-Do-Nots

All you need is a little heat!  Oh, and all the ingredients...

I love making these because they're so easy and quick.  No-Bake Cookies have always been a common dessert in our house and of course I am partial to my mother's version of the recipe:

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c. cocoa (unsweetened)

3 c. quick oats

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. peanut butter

Boil sugar, milk, butter & cocoa for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in oats, vanilla & peanut butter (quickly).  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper & let cool.

Trust me when I say you can't just eat one - better just pile up a plate like this one!

Here I am about a year ago making the same cookies for the White Elephant Christmas party I threw last year in Peru.  Our Peruvian friends loved it and they did an amazing job at grasping this weird American tradition!

I see there are at least 4 flashlights out on the counter...no surprise...electricity was often taking its own little vacation...  Oh, and, no.  We did not paint the cabinets pink. They came that way!  :)

White Elephant Fortunes

Are you one of the probably millions of people who are involved in a White Elephant Christmas party every year?  We are!  It sure is fun but sometimes I get tired of the same thing every year...you, too?  Well, put a new spin on it!

Instead of pulling random numbers out of a bag or jar, why not put the numbers inside a fortune cookie?  Then people receive their numbers AND a sweet goodie all in one!

Check out this recipe I adapted from a Southern Living cookbook I recently purchased:
Sidenote: Dillard's is selling these books for only $10 in support of Ronald McDonald Houses - definitely a worthy cause to buy a new cookbook! :)

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. almond extract
3 T. vegetable oil
1/4 c. flour
1 1/5 t. cornstarch
1/4 T. sugar
4 t. water

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300 F.  Grease 2 cookie sheets.

Separate eggs.  Whisk egg whites.  Add extracts and oil and whisk again until the mixture becomes a little foamy.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a kitchen aid mixing bowl and stir in the water.

Slowly add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.  Completely mix until the batter is smooth and slightly runny.

Use a Tablespoon to place the batter onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.  Spread slightly with back of spoon - the baking with further spread the circle.  I highly recommend beginning with 2 cookies at a time until you become skilled at the next step.

Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn a golden brown and the cookie starts to pull away from the cookie sheet.

(Do this step very quickly.)  Remove sheet from the oven.  Remove cookie with a spatula and place cookie on a plate.  Place the pre-cut fortune (or white elephant numbers!) in the middle of the cookie.  Fold the cookie in half, pinching the 2 outer points together.
Grasp each end of cookie and place over the edge of a mug or bowl, drawing the edges down to form a crease.  Place the folded cookie into one of the cavities of a muffin tray and leave to cool.

And, for even more fun, I put 10 Christmas jokes in 10 random cookies - before they could pick out their gifts to open, they had to read the joke to the group!

If you try this, let me know how it goes!

Perfect Pumpkin Cookie

When we had to go to Idaho last month I brought with me all sorts of ingredients I needed for various things I wanted to cook while there.  I needed to keep up the blog!  But cooking in various relatives' kitchens was harder than it appeared...As you know, I ended up posting almost nothing during that time, but I did manage to bake these terrific cookies!  When it was posted 2 months ago, I had saved it immediately.  A must-try.  And now I'm finally sharing it with you!

Adapted from Erin Cooks, enjoy the Perfect Pumpkin Cookie!

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree (I used fresh)
1 egg, beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. cinnamon chips


Instructions
Set oven to 350 F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.
In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment combine the butter, sugar, pumpkin, egg, and vanilla - beating until just blended.
Mix in the dry ingredients.
Remove the bowl from the mixer stand.  Stir in the chips.
Using a cookie scoop drop the dough 1-inch apart on the baking sheet.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

And share the joy of this tasty cookie with those around you!

1,2&3 - Together At Last! ...In Person and Not In a Line

I had a really hard time picking my favorite title for this, because the day was just that awesome...
We had ideas everywhere from "My Day With #1 and #3" to "From Eugene to Camas" to "Bakerella Byproducts."

I assume you are probably wondering what's with this numbering business...  Remember the Bakerella Book Signing I went to?  Remember, how I was #2 in line?  Well, ever since then, I have kept in touch with #1 and #3 in line and we planned and finally had a whole day in the kitchen together!

I hopped in my car early Saturday morning and met #3 (Laurie) in Albany, Oregon about an hour later.  She, her daughter, her mother-in-law, and I then drove up to Camas, Washington (about another 1.5 hours) and met #1 (Deborah) and her daughter.  And then the fun really began!

First on the agenda was the BANANA BREAD THROW DOWN!  #1 had seen my banana bread post a few weeks ago and challenged my claim that it was the best...Game on!  hehe.

We found a third recipe for #3 to try - just to be in the competition with us.

We were moving so quickly all the pictures are blurry!

The day wasn't without mishaps...and the spilled walnuts were only the beginning (quickly followed by my big hips deciding to start the gas stove on their own).

We had to make sure they were all labeled properly, of course.

 Now to distract ourselves with something else while they bake...what to do?

What better than a fun lunch with all the ladies!...Too bad I forgot to capture all the fun-ness...I did, though, snap a photo of one of the very few healthy things we ate that day...veggies or sweets?  Hmm, that's not a hard one for most people...

So, the next big goal for the day was to learn how to make #2's famous caramel corn.  #1 had been raving about it and wanted to learn the secret!  We've all had lots of caramel corn in our lives, but after I finally tasted #3's, it was like a whole new level of taste bud partying was going on.  I am SO saving this recipe forever...

After we mostly watched #3 make the popcorn while constantly munching on random goodies (including my pumpkin seeds), we moved onto sugar cookies...

Honestly, we were really starting to slow down at this point.  A big tasty lunch combined with constant sweet yummy goodness all day long was catching up with us.  But we were determined!

The two pros (#3 & #1) picked out the proper tips for the cookie piping...

and picked out pretty colors...

and started piping!

Oh, and flooding...is that the right word?

I even tried to do it - my first time doing anything of the sort.

And, once again, I forgot to take photos for a while there - I don't have a single photo of a final finished cookie!  Boo.

I do, however, have a shot of the finished banana breads...or did you forget about those already?

Guess who won??

Which Velvet?

There once was a tasty looking recipe.

It really appeared so love-a-ly.

It was supposed to be red,

But then to my dread,

They ended up all yellow-y.

Oh yes, my friends, I originally set out to make this scrumptious looking recipe for my friend’s birthday.  Partway through the process, I reached for the box of food coloring…Looking at the box, it says “Red Blue Green Yellow,” right? So, in my rush (granted, I was squeezing way too many things into one day last week and was a little frazzled), I just blindly reach into the LEFT side where it said RED. 

I quickly put the proper amount into my batter.  All seems well at this point.  I reach for the mixer…I turn on the mixer…suddenly the RED liquid turns super bright yellow.  Whaaaat?

[insert shocking yellow picture here that I forgot to take due to disbelief and the time subsequently spent weighing the options against each other: Do I start over and use the red?  Do I add some red?  Do I give up and just send a card?  Do I not really have time to be baking right now?!]

Anyway, I obviously just moved on.  The next step had me adding cocoa powder which ended up dominating the batter after all.  I guess maybe scientifically red is stronger than yellow?  Hmm, I really don’t know.  As much as I mixed it, though, I could always see random yellow parts in the batter shining up at me, mocking me... 

Once baked, it didn’t show as much, but at some angles you could definitely tell that you were eating Yellow Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies!

They tasted marvelously, by the way, thanks to Jessica at How Sweet.

To top it all off, after I had unplugged the hand mixer, apparently the end of the cord decided to nestle into my apron pocket.  I walked away from the counter and BANG went the mixer onto the floor.  Oh, what a day!

Poem: 50% by me, 50% by my dad

Italian Cookies

Church on the Property this weekend called for everyone to bring cookies to share.  I made these.  If you like coconut, they are yummy!

Ingredients:
1/2 pound butter, softened (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
Icing:
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
5-6 tablespoons milk (I needed a bit more)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Decorations:
Flaked coconut

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and extract.  Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
For icing, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.  Dip cookies, allowing excess to drip off.  Place on waxed paper; decorate as desired.  Let stand until set.

4th of July Cake Pops

I've been wanting to make these for months.  They aren't that complicated, but let me just say they took a lonnng time to complete.  But "first times" for everything take longer than normal - next time will be so much easier.

Yes, I went through and separated all the Blues and Whites because I could not find single-color stars anywhere.

1. Bake a cake (or 2).

2. Cool completely.

3. Dump into bowl.

4. Crumble completely.

5. Mix with almost a whole tub of frosting (not quite all).

6. Form into 1-inch balls.

7. Refrigerate for a couple hours (or overnight).

8. Melt your candy melts (or chocolate coating) - whatever you decide on.

9. HERE IS THE TRICK step I added myself - Dip ball into candy coating BEFORE putting ball onto stick. The candy dries almost immediately and will stay on the stick that way.  I lost many cake balls before figuring that one out.

10. Put cake ball on stick - push it through a little less than halfway.

11. Dip completely in candy coating - I actually spooned it on and spread.  Whatever you decide, do it FAST.

12. Dip/Cover in sprinkles....again, FAST.

13. Place in styrofoam board to complete drying process.

14. Optional: put in individual treat bags and tie them up all prettily.  I just did it for some of them.

Aren't they cute?!

I actually made these sugar cookies before the cake pops as backup in case they flopped.  

Turns out, my husband was practically inhaling them, so I think they were pretty successful!