{how is that for a title, eh? sorry for the un-amazing pic!}
ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup mashed ripe banana (1 small banana)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
directions:
combine dry ingredients. separately, cream butter & sugar. add egg, then banana & vanilla. stir in dry ingredients & oats. combine well, then add nuts. drop in heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment or wax paper lined sheets. {as you can see, i didn't do that. i just made sure the pan was well greased.} bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes {most always done at 8 minutes}. cool on sheet 3-4 minutes. transfer to wire rack.
Who doesn't like Cream Cheese?! My husband's cousin posted the recipe of these cookies on Facebook and I just HAD to make them. And want to know the best part? Eggs are not required!! So feel free to feed your kids all the dough you want with no worries!
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
5-6 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups plus 3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment
Cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the Vanilla.
Sift together dry ingredients and then add them to the butter mixture. Beat until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
*original recipe suggests chilling the dough overnight but I made them right away
Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place onto greased cookie sheets.
Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are looking light golden brown.
Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before moving to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes approximately 60 cookies.
***With it being autumn now, I just thought of putting a little bit of cinnamon in it next time I make this batch. Sounds enticing!!
So I know that for most people, when you see your bananas start to brown, you get excited for some banana bread. I am different. My mother always made the yummiest banana cookies when I was growing up. The name of the recipe is really Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies, but being allergic to chocolate, my mother would make half the cookies without the chocolate chips for me. I have made a couple more tweaks, and here is my version of the recipe, and the reason why I like to see browning bananas on my counter.
Pecan White Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies
Ingredients & Instructions
Step #1 In bowl #1 2/3 c softened butter 2/3 c sugar Combine with mixer 2 eggs *Beat into butter/sugar
Step #2 In bowl #2 2 ½ c flour ¼ t baking soda 2 t baking powder Dash of salt (opt) *Sift/mix
Step #3 *Add bowl #2 to bowl #1 and mix well.
Step #4 *Add... 2/3 c mashed bananas (I like to leave a little chunkiness, but you can puree if you prefer) 1 t vanilla 1/3 c milk
Step #5 *Add... 1 c white chocolate chips 1/2 c chopped pecans
Step #6 optional but recommended... *Stick your finger in the dough and tempt your taste buds with a little sampling of the dough. The dough will be a bit like banana bread, not quite as liquid like, but not stiff like cookie dough).
Step #7 another optional but recommended step if you have the time... *I prefer to refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours. It allows the cookies to bake a little fluffier, not flat.
Step #8
*Put a tablespoon sized scoop of dough onto a cookie sheet (don't smash down the dough or anything - leave in the "scoop")
Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes
Because of the white chocolate chips, it may appear they aren't cooked, but they are. Oh, and they are super, super yummy warm (though also good cold).
My little cooking pal ate probably more than he should have.
But here's my favorite photo from our baking time... This was in response to, I want to see your cookie...
1 1\2 C. peanut butter
2 C. brown sugar
1 C.sugar
1 C. butter (softened)
3 bananas
1\2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 1\2 C. flour (I used one cup wheat flour and 1 1\2 cups white)
1\2 C. oats
How To:
Cream peanut butter, sugars and butter together
Add in the bananas and mix well
Slowly pour in baking powder, salt, flour and oats until the mixture is creamy and smooth
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes
You can also mix in a cup of chocolate chips, M&M's, nuts, Craisins or any of your favorite add-ins. But they are also divine all by themselves. They seriously are so yummy, it is hands down my new favorite cookie recipe!
I really love cookies. I love baking them, I love eating the dough, and I love giving them to people. This recipe comes from my good friend Lindsey, and is quite possibly the best peanut butter blossom cookie recipe around. The difference comes from rolling the cookies in raw sugar instead of regular sugar and using three milk chocolate chips instead of a Hershey's kiss on top. They are delicious!
Peanut Butter Blossoms
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 tsp. vanilla
48 candy kisses, or milk chocolate chips
(I did not get 48 cookies out of this batch, maybe I made mine too big!)
*Raw sugar for rolling
Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl, mixing until fluffy. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a seperate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine on a low speed. Shape the dough (it will be sticky not dry) into balls and roll in big-chunk raw sugar. Bake 9-10 minutes (7 minutes in my oven) at 400 degrees. Top immediately with a kiss (or 3 milk chocolate chips) and press into cookie. Cool on a wire rack.
*Raw sugar, or turbinado sugar is found in all grocery stores. Look for it where the regular sugar is, usually on the top shelf.
Today marks the start of the new year, the year of the tiger.
So as the ever so popular Tony the Tiger would say,
I hope your new year will be "grrrrreeeeaaaat!!!!"
So I belong to a family who celebrates Chinese New Year. I'm pretty sure it's because we love playing MahJong together. But I also think we love to devour all the yummy though very bad for you, thus only eaten once a year, fried Won tons and Crab Rangoonsmy aunt makes. My yearly assignment, this yummy Chinese Chicken Salad that joined our family at least twenty years ago. OK, so it's not a recipe handed down for generations, but it has been handed down a generation. You gotta start somewhere right?
-->
Chinese Chicken Salad
The Salad (or as we say, The Weed)
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked (boiled) in water, ginger and then shredded. ( I like lots of Chicken, I think the original recipe just calls for 1 breast)
Won ton skins – about 1/3 of the package. Cut and fried. (these freeze well, so don't feel like you have to use the whole package so as not to waste. Just freeze the rest.)
1 head lettuce
8 stalks green onion
4 T sliced almonds
4 T toasted sesame seeds
Mix everything together, but the won tons so they don't get soggy, when ready to serve.
Dressing
4 T sugar
2 t salt
1 t pepper
6 T vinegar (this year I used Apple Cider Vinegar, it was so good, and you don't need as much sugar. I only used about 1 1/2 T sugar)
¼-1/3 t sesame oil
½ c olive oil
Mix the dressing really well.
Pour the dressing on the salad and toss and then add the won tons just before serving.
*Some of my tricks. I cook and shred the chicken, mix the dressing and slice the green onions the night before. I put all the chicken and the onions in a bag. Shake it to mix them, and then add maybe a 1/3 of the dressing and shake it up well so as to get all the chicken (you may need more, you may need less dressing.) I allow it to sit overnight and all day. Then when I make the salad, I only pour about half the remaining dressing onto the salad and toss the salad really well. Because the chicken is already seasoned, I don't really need all the dressing, though you can put the rest on the table in case your family or guests like a "wetter" salad.
And then the cookies. These aren't cookies per say, but they are yummy. Though this one has passed along two generations - my grandma, to my mother, to me...
-->
Chinese Cookies (for lack of a better name)
Ingredients
1 - 12 oz bag Butterscotch Chips
1 - 12 oz bag Chow Mein Noodles
1/2 - 1 c peanuts
Instructions
Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper (or just on really long sheet or two sheets of wax paper on the counter.
Melt the butterscotch chips (I use a double boiler to do this)
Add the peanuts
Stir in the noodles (I start with half the package and then gradually add the rest, stirring to be sure they are all coated well.)
Spoon out clumps of the coated noodles, what ever amount looks sufficient for your desired cookie size, and set on the wax paper to cool.
My aunt shared this recipe with me while I was in college, and it's the only sugar cookie I've made ever since. Unfortunately, after making over 200 of them this week, I forgot to take a picture of the final product. Here's my blog on making them last year though, and you can kind of see what they looked like (I wish my mother had been in town this year to help with frosting them, especially since I made twice as many this year.) But I took plenty of pictures as I made them. And since everyone has their own favorite recipes, I thought I'd share secrets about what I think makes these ones so good.
First of all, everything is at room temperature. I set the butter out all night, and day depending on when I make the dough. The eggs and the sour cream I set out for 1-2 hours.
I cook so much that I keep my flour and sugar in these wonderful storage containers. I also bought the screw-on lids (so much easier than the tough push-on lids.) And then, I always sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together to mix the dry ingredients. I don't have an expensive sifter. I use the wire strainer that costs $1 at the dollar store. Works great!
I love this attachment for my KitchenAid for when I'm adding in the dry ingredients. The one my mother has is a one piece unit. Now they sell them as a two piece, put together unit - not quite as effective because there is space where the flour can escape, but still helpful.
Also, though I mix all my wet ingredients with the regular mixer attachment, before I add the dry ingredients, I switch to the kneader attachment. It really keeps everything mixed well, including the bottom of the bowl (you know how sometimes you find unmixed ingredients at the bottom? Icky!)
Also, I like the dough to be sticky - here's my hand after I took a batch out of the mixing bowl. I don't like to add too much flour because then the cookies are dry. (also, I don't use a lot of flour on my rolling mat, nor do I set cut dough on flour, I set it on wax paper.)
So, because it's sticky, I always refrigerate the dough overnight. This way when I roll out the dough to cut it, it's not sticky. So here are my dough balls ready for the fridge.
And finally, here's the recipe:
My Aunt Julianne's SugarCookies
Wet Ingredients 1 c Butter (softened to room temperature) 3 Eggs (room temperature) 1½ c Sugar 2t Vanilla 1 c Sour Cream (room temperature)
*Mix well until creamy*
Dry Ingredients
5½ c Flour (again, its OK if its little sticky)
2t Baking Powder
1t Baking Soda
¼ t Salt
*Sift together in separate bowl*
**Add dry to wet and mix **
**Separate and roll dough into balls, wrap in plastic wrap, or put in bowls. Refrigerate (I prefer overnight, but recommend at least two hours.)
**Roll dough out to desired thickness. (About ¼” for large cookies, ½” for small. The dough will rise.) Cut into shapes. And place on greased cookie sheet.
**Bake at 350 for 8 minutes for small cookies, 9-10 minutes for large cookies (just before the edges go brown.) Remove immediately from cookie sheet to cooling rack.
**They stay the softest if after 10 minutes of air cooling they are placed in paper bags. set wax paper between rows to avoid sticking. Or after completely cooling, store in refrigerator or freezer.
**Frost after cooled. I made cream cheese frosting this year for the cookies. I didn't add as much sugar though since the cookies are so sweet.
