Cookies

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms

Posted on by traci

I’ve been sick most of this Christmas season so I have not made ANY Christmas cookies.  Okay, I’ll take it back.  We made peanut butter blossoms and then we ate them.

I decided to update my peanut butter blossom recipes using gluten free flour.

I noticed that the dough does not stand up as well as the gluten dough so you will need to place it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before forming it into balls.

Even with that little inconvenience, the cookies are absolutely delicious.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms

  • Servings: 3 to 4 doz.
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 48 Hershey’s Kisses
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-1/2 cups gluten free flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Granulated sugar

Directions

  1.  Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
  2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended.
  3. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy.
  4. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.
  5. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
  6. Place the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes
  7. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
  8.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
  9. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges.
  10. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
  11. Cool completely.
  12. Enjoy!

Happy eating,
Traci

Pretzel chocolate chip cookies

Posted on by traci

I originally posted this recipe in 2010.  I recently made them and made sure I took a much better picture of the cookies.  So I’m going to repost the blog post.  I think it’s fitting because the last time I posted this recipe, we had just formed a new church.  Our church now has a new pastor.  Tomorrow is going to be the ceremony installing as our new pastor.

The Wee One loves these cookies.  He kept snacking on them.  It must be the saltiness and sweetness of the cookie that appealed to him.

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I enjoy reading murder-mysteries.  One of my favorite authors is Joanne Fluke.  The main character in her books is Hannah Swenson.  Hannah has a knack for finding dead bodies which drives her mother absolutely batty.  With the help of her mother, sisters, and friends, she investigates murders.  Since Hannah owns a cookie shop, the author includes recipes for different types of baked goodies plus other food.  In the past, I’ve tried different cookie recipes.  Usually I am impressed with the end result.  One such recipe was for pretzel chocolate chip cookies.

Last month, our new church had a get together.  We were suppose to bring a different type of dish to share.  I decided to take a batch of these pretzel chocolate chip cookies.  Everyone’s reaction to these cookies was a positive one.  Since the only other dessert was strawberry shortcake which also good, it was nice to have a cookies there also.

The boys enjoyed crush the pretzels into tiny bits.  I put a handful or two of pretzels into a zip lock bag, hand them a meat mallet, and a plastic cutting board and then let them pound away at the pretzels.  I’d rather have them pound out the pretzels rather then each other.

Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, 1/2 pound)
  • 2 cups granulated sugar (white)
  • 3 Tbsp. molasses
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork – poke the yolks first)
  • 2 cups crushed salted thin stick pretzels (measure after crushing)
  • 2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Use an electric mixer if you have one because the dough gets really stiff.

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix the softened butter with the sugar and the molasses. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, and the molasses is completely mixed in.
  3. Add the vanilla and baking soda. Mix them in well.
  4. Break eggs into a glass and whip them up with a fork. Add them to your bowl and mix until they’re thoroughly incorporated.
  5. Put your pretzels in a zip lock plastic bag. Seal it carefully and place it on a flat surface. Get out your rolling pin and run it over the bag, crushing the pretzels inside. Do this until there are no large pieces and the largest is a quarter-inch long.
  6. Measure out two cups of crushed pretzels and mix them into the dough in your bowl.
  7. Add one cup of flour and mix it in. Then add the second cup and mix thoroughly. Add the final half cup of flour and mix that in.
  8. Measure out a cup and a half of chocolate chips and add them to your cookie dough. If you’re using an electric mixer, mix them in at the slowest speed. You can also pu the mixer away, and stir in the chips by hand.
  9. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto greased or sprayed with nonstick cooking spray cookie sheets. Place 12 cookies on each standard sheet.
  10. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned. (I do it for 11 minutes.)

This post is part of Potluck Sundays, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, and Eat at Home.

Santa’s Whiskers – Christmas Making and Baking

Posted on by traci

I made these many years ago.  This year I decided to make them once again.

Things you need to remember – When you wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap, don’t use press and seal plastic wrap.  That made it difficult to make a roll.  The coconut will make a mess.  Just keep the broom around.  🙂

santa's whiskers

Santa’s Whiskers

Adapted from Cooking with Stolen Moments

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 c. butter (2 sticks), softened
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. milk
  • 2 1/2 c. flour
  • 3/4 c. maraschino cherries, diced, plus 1 tsp. juice from jar (I may have used more juice because I love maraschino cherries.)
  • 1 c. coconut, unsweetened

Steps:

  1. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
  2. Add vanilla and milk.  Beat until combined.
  3. Add flour, 1/2 c. at a time.  Mix until incorporated.
  4. Fold in the cherries and juice.  (I used my mixer.  You can certainly use a spoon for this step.)
  5. Divide the dough in half.  Form each half into a 8 or 9 inch log.  Roll each half in coconut.
  6. Wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap.  Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
  7. Slice in 1/4 inch cookies.  Place on baking sheets.
  8. Bake for 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
  9. Cool on wire racks.

I froze mine overnight and then pulled them out of the freezer for 15 or so minutes before slicing them.

 

Make Ahead Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Posted on by traci

IMG_1404We love chocolate chip cookies around here.  However, I’m not always in the mood to mix up a full batch of cookies.  Make ahead chocolate chip cookie mix to the rescue.  The dry ingredients are already mixed up so all you need to do is add the wet ingredients and mix.

Hint:  Use an electric mixer because it’s harder to mix by hand.  It’s doable just harder to get all the ingredients mixed together.
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These can be stored for 3 months in an airtight container.  I used zippered storage bags.

Make Ahead Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Adapted from Lauren’s Latest

IMG_1401Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. chocolate chips

Steps:

  1. Mix all of the ingredients together in an airtight container.
  2. Store for up to 3 months.

Chocolate Chip Cookies using the Make Ahead Mix

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Stars of the recipe:

  • Make Ahead Mix
  • 1 stick softened butter (1/2 c.)
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp. milk
  • 1 egg

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Place all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
  3. Mix together until well incorporated.
  4. Drop cookie dough by tablespoons onto a baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes.
  6. Allow to cool for at least 2 minutes before removing it from the tray.
  7. Enjoy with a glass of milk, cup of tea, or a cup of coffee.

I got at least 36 out of my dough but the original recipe got 18 out of her mix.

Top Clicks of 2012

Posted on by traci

According to my stats counter, these are the top 10 recipes that were clicked on.

Taco Crescent Bake was #1 – It was published in February of  2011.

Sloppy Joe Pizza was #2 – It was also published in February of 2011.

Watermelon Cookies was #3.  These continue to be my kids and students favorite cookies.  It was published in July of 2010.

Watermelon Cookies

Watermelon Cookies

Makes It Own Crust Apple Pie was #4.  It was published in November of 2011.

Makes It Own Crust Apple Pie

Makes It Own Crust Apple Pie

Baked Spaghetti was #5.  It was published in January of 2012.

Baked Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti

Homemade hamburger helper was #6.  It was published in October 2010.

Homemade Hamburger helper

Homemade Hamburger helper

Charleston Cheese Dip was #7.  It was published in January 2012.

Charleston Cheese Dip

Charleston Cheese Dip

Ranch Chicken Legs was #8.  It was published in March 2011.

Peanut Butter Blossoms was #9.  It was published in October 2010.

Peanut butter blossoms

Peanut butter blossoms

Green beans, potatoes, and ham was #10.  It was published in April of 2012.

Green beans, ham, and potatoes

Green beans, ham, and potatoes

Here’s to a successful 2013!

Swedish Oatmeal Cookies

Posted on by traci

I’ve previously mentioned how I like Joanna Fluke’s Hannah Swenson books.  I’m rereading some of the books in the series.  As I was reading Key Lime Murder, she included this recipe.  I was instantly intrigued.  I’ve made other oatmeal cookies that included chocolate chips and M&M’s.  This year I wanted something simple.  This cookie fit the bill!!!

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Swedish Oatmeal Cookies

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 c. butter (2 sticks)
  • 3/4 c. white sugar (granulated)
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 c. unsifted flour (all-purpose or white whole wheat)
  • 2 c. oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oatmeal.  I love that texture.)
  • 1 egg yolk

Steps:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl on high for 1 1/2 minutes.
  3. Let  the butter cool to room temperature.
  4. Mix in the white sugar.
  5. Add the baking soda, flour, and oatmeal.  Stir thoroughly.
  6. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with a fork until it’s thoroughly mixed.
  7. Add the yolk to the bowl and stir until it’s incorporated.
  8. Grease or spray with cooking spray cookie sheet.
  9. Make small balls of dough and place them on the cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet.
  10. Press them down with a fork in a crisscross pattern.
  11. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
  12. Let cool for 1 or 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
  13. Enjoy!!!

Printable Recipe

Christmas Baking

Posted on by traci

IMG_0260Every year I bake and create Christmas goodies.  My grandma used to do the same thing and then share with family and friends.  I have her bench she used to pile the containers onto and the Kitchen aid mixer she used to whip up the batches of delicious cookies.  Once I was an adult living in a place where I could bake, I started the tradition.  I have my tied and true cookies I bake every year and then I try new recipes.

Four years ago, I lost my grandma on Christmas Eve.  For five days before her death, my family sat by her bedside.  When I couldn’t be there, I baked and created in my kitchen as a way to keep my mind off of losing her.  I then brought the goodies with me when I was at the nursing home.  The family shared the treats.  It was a wonderful way to honor her.

On Christmas Eve of 2008, after everyone had left the nursing home when God welcomed her home.  I was at the Christmas Eve service when I got the call that she had died.  I remember breaking down into tears.  Grandma so loved Christmas that she took her last breath the night before Jesus’ birth.

Another tradition we hold dear is baking a cake, cupcakes, or brownies to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  We sing “Happy Birthday” to him as a way to remember him.  The tradition started when the Imaginative One was a baby and has continued ever since.  However I was introduced to the concept almost 20 years ago.  I had worked at McDonald’s as a college student and was trained to host birthday parties.  One party I hosted was a birthday party for Jesus.  It was held during the holiday season and stuck with me.

The Wee One and I were baking snickerdoodles right before Thanksgiving.  His words were that it smelled like Christmas.  His memories of Christmas are going to include the smell of cinnamon.

My children are going to remember peanut butter blossoms, snickerdoodles, and Rolo turtles as being part of their holiday season. 

For more Christmas or holiday baking ideas, please visit my Christmas/holiday page or click on the link. 

Have a great holiday season from my house to yours!

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