Soft Molassas Cookies

Judy Brown's Soft Molassas Cookies
( aka supersoft gingersnaps - from Favorites)
1 1/2 c butter
2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c molasses
4 1/2 c flour
4 teaspoons baking soda (this is not a typo!)
2 teaspoons cinnamon2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and molasses and mix well. Add dry ingredients. Roll into balls with a cookie scoop and roll balls in sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 375 for 10 minutes.These make wonderful holiday cookies!

Gram's Gingerbread Boys

Today I made Gingerbread boys with Cori. She hummed and serenaded me with beautiful Christmas songs as I mixed, rolled and cut out the most delish little men ever to be covered with frosting. Cori is a wonderful baker and an amazing song writer- what a gift to be able to turn tender feelings into words.

Thank you Cori for filling my kitchen today with wonderful smells, treats and sounds! Here's the recipe for her gingerbread cookies and for her music visit http://www.coriconnors.com/

Gram's Gingerbread Boys (via Cori) * revised

1/4 c butter

1/4 c butter flavored crisco

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c molasses

1/2 t cider vinegar

1/2 c buttermilk

3 c flour

1/2 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 t ground ginger

2 t cinnamon

First off follow the recipe EXACTLY! (or your cookies will be less than delish- trust me!) Cream shortening, butter and sugar. Mix in molasses and vinegar. Mix a cup of flour with the spices. and mix into batter. Then alternate adding flour and buttermilk. ("start with flour and end with flour") CHILL for at least a few hours to over night. Roll out thick and bake at 375 for 6-10 minutes. (6 min was perfect in my oven- don't over bake if you want them soft). Cool and frost with butter cream frosting.

Yummy butter cream frosting

1/2 cup butter softened

1t vanilla

1/4 t salt

1/3-1/2 cup EVAPORATED milk

4 cups powdered sugar

beat the butter until fluffy, add additional ingredients, alternate adding powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency, should be thin enough to spread so the frosting appears smooth on the top of the cookie. The frosting will harden slightly and you can used a pastry bag to pipe on additional decorations.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rachaels' Pumpkin Cookies (from Favorites)
3 cups canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 cup oil
2 t nutmeg
2 t cinnamon
2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
3 cups sugar
1 t salt
5 cups flour
1 1/2 c chocolate chips


In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix well. Add flour and mix to combine. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.



Browned Butter Frosting
1 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c milk ( i use evaporated milk in frosting)
1 t vanilla


melt the butter on the stove in small sauce pan until melted and it begins to brown. (watch it close so it doesn't burn) add to powdered sugar and slowly add milk until smooth, add vanilla -Frost and enjoy!!!

Brown Sugar Muffins

1/2 butter softened
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 c. milk
2 c. flour
1/4 t salt
1 t baking soda

Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in milk. Add dry ingredients and stir. Pour into greased muffin pan. (makes about 12 regular sized muffins) Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

We had these tonight with Cauliflower soup!! yummmmm!!!

Uncle Steve's Peach Ice Cream

5 years ago my uncle Steve passed away. At his funeral we ate the most delicious homemade peach ice cream. This summer I called around to the wonderful women who provided lunch to find this recipe because it was such a vivid memory for me! Another great way to remember Steve!

4 eggs

2 1/2 c. sugar

2 c. milk

1 t vanilla

1/4 t almond

8-10 large peaches. pealed and pureed

2 c. whipping cream

Beat eggs until think and lemon colored (about 5 minutes). Beat the sugar in until dissolved. Stir in milk, vanilla and almond. Stir pureed peaches into egg mixture and then fold in the whipping cream. Pour into Ice Cream Freezer! (makes 4 quarts)

creamy bacon farfalle

!ell lets be honest, I don't cook much during the summer. We grill a lot and I make a few different pasta salads. My new summer fav is the one Ashley posted below. It is awesome cold with Feta!!

Another favorite pasta salad Gretel and I created by sharing ideas and substitutions back and forth and viola!! delish pasta.

CREAMY BACON FARFALLE

handful pine nuts (about 1/2 cup)
6- 8 mushrooms sliced
1 c. frozen peas
1 bunch asparagus cooked and cut into 1-2 inch pieces
a handful (about 1/2 cup) cooked and crumbled bacon. ( I buy the Kirkland brand cooked bacon from Costco- LOVE IT)

1 cup half and half
1 c. chicken broth
2-4 T butter
1 clove garlic ( I like the minced garlic)
2 T. lemon juice
1 c. parm cheese
cornstarch

1 lb farfalle cooked and drained.

In a large skillet toast pine nuts. Then add butter, garlic, mushrooms and bacon saute until soft. Add asparagus and frozen peas- cover and simmer on low.

In a small sauce pan warm broth over med heat. In separate bowl mix 2 T cornstarch and 1/4 c. of the cream add rue to broth and stir until thick. Add the remaining cream (3/4 cup) lemon juice and 1/2 c parm cheese.

In a large bowl combine cooked mushroom/bacon/pine nuts, sauce and noodles. Depending on your veggie to noodle ratio you may not want to use all of the noodles. This pasta is also great with grilled chicken left over from a previous day of grilling! Sprinkle with remaining parm cheese and enjoy!!

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I LOVE chocolate chip cookies, and I make pretty good ones too.

But I am not going to share my recipe, not because I am mean, but because chances are you have a perfect recipe too- you are just making them wrong. (I know this is possible because people have used my recipe and made terrible cookies)

So here is how to use your recipe to make PERFECT chocolate chip cookies:

Fresh Ingredients: Don't pull out 4 year old baking soda and hope that is works.

Correct Measuring: make sure that your measuring spoons/cups all add up. I used to have a 1/2 cup that was more like a 1/3 and I couldn't figure out why my cookies didn't work.

Use 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter at room temperature: whatever the recipe calls for use 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening.

Mix it by hand. Seriously. Let it be the arm workout that justifies all of the cookies you are going to eat!

Don't Overmix: Cream the butter and sugar and then add the eggs one at a time. (if you can't mix it all by hand- STOP using the mixer after you add the eggs) From here on out stir in the flour mixture and chocolate chips.

Refrigerate your dough if you have time- even it is only 30 minutes.

DON'T spray your cookie sheets and preheat your oven.

Use a cookie scoop so that your cookies are all the same size

And MOST IMPORTANTLY pull your cookies out of the oven before they are done. (I have a grandma who will not take anything out of the oven until the timer goes off. The rolls can be black on top- and still no matter- they are not done until the timer dings.)

Be patient: Put just a few on the cookie sheet to start out with. Start with 8 minutes. If you can see they are still gooey- leave them in for another minute or two. But if they look like just one more minute and they will be perfect: Pull them out and let them set. I think that you'll be surprised that they keep cooking on the pan. If they are still too gooey then next time cook them a minute longer.

I would love to hear if these tips (and any others) help you make AWESOME, no-fail chocolate chip cookies!

* disclaimer- that is not my picture at the top, but it was the best I could find. Guess I'll have to make some!