Sounds Like the Little Red Hen

The baker's hat in the house will now be worn by K1. The girls and I came home from a study session at B&N (the library wasn't open today) to the smell of Peanut Butter cookies. When I asked him he told him to bake cookies (figuring that J had twisted his arm to do it), he said no one... he just wanted to do it.

Now PB cookies are not my favorite, in fact, I don't like them except for the flourless ones. But I have to tell you... these were the best... the absolute BEST... PB cookies I have ever eaten. They were soft and chewy and damn near melted in your mouth. He did make them rather large so we only got 23 cookies from the batch of dough. But did I mention how yummy they were??

When I tried one and loved it, I was worried because I thought I was done for... lawd knows how many calories I would be consuming. However, I worried for nothing... it seems K1 thinks that since he made them, he is the one who gets to eat them. Hmmm... I did remind him that I was the one who had bought all the ingredients. He let me have an extra one.

So now the the truth is known and K1 is to become the family baker... maybe I can go sneak another one since he's in bed.

When the Weather Turns Cold...

BAKE!

I am not normally a baker... never enjoyed it much. Well, it was more or less the cleaning up afterward that I hated. However, it turned a bit fall-like this weekend and I will NOT turn the funace on in September. So the girls and I did some baking... much to J's amazement (they were real, from scratch... not "plastic" cookies).

K3 made flourless peanut butter cookies. This was my suggestion because I HATE cookies that are hard and PB cookies almost always seem that way. However, years ago I had found a flourless PB cookie recipe that was so incredibly soft... they were yummy! The recipe we used today wasn't quite it but they were still good! (Not that I really need to be eating any!) Then while K3 and I ran to the grocery store for more supplies, K2 made a pan of brownies. Then while I had a pot roast in the oven, K2 and I mixed up a batch of Ranger cookie dough, which then got baked during dinner.

So now after trying to be so good.. I have cookies, brownies and more cookies in the house!

Oh, and just a side note... the comment from the girls regarding the Ranger cookies... "They're good... not as good as Grandma's, but still good." :)


Recipes came from allrecipes.com...

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Ranger Cookies

SUBMITTED BY: Karen Davenport

"This is an old recipe from the 20's and 30's."

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 eggs (changed to 3) *
  
• 2 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 C. milk *

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream shortening, add sugar gradually. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together and mix with the first mixture. Add oatmeal, rice cereal, and coconut. Mix well.
4. Drop by tablespoons on slightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

** The ingredients with (*) were not in the original recipe but were added due to comments placed on the recipe page. **

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Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

SUBMITTED BY: Stephanie T.

"Heavy, yummy, and very peanut-buttery. You'll need lots of milk to eat these!! "

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar * (altered to 1/2 white, 1/2 brown)
  
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla *
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Combine ingredients and drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool. Recipe doesn't make very many, so you could double recipe as you desire.

** The ingredients with (*) were not in the original recipe but were added due to comments placed on the recipe page. **