GRANDPA'S OATMEAL COOKIES

These cookies are nostalgic to me. My Grandpa made THEE best oatmeal cookies I've ever had. I am 53 years old and I still remember with great fondness, the look, smell and taste of his oatmeal cookies. I don't believe he ever used a recipe. They were made with such love that he probably could have prepared them with his eyes closed and one arm tied behind his back. What made them EXTRA special to me, was when he was coming to the end of a batch, he would save out enough cookie dough to make a "giant" cookie, JUST FOR ME! His cookies were perfect. Moist and flavorful in the middle and just enough of a crispy edge to balance out the soft middle. I loved my Grandpa. He was a Naval war vet. He passed into Heaven when I was just a little girl in 1st grade. But he made a tremendous impact on me. As I grew older and became interested in cooking, I remembered his oatmeal cookies and asked my mother if she would share his recipe with me. Sadly she told me, "he took that recipe to the grave with him." That broke my heart. "BUT," she said, "I know what his secret ingredient was that made them so special. Mincemeat! So I began experimenting with various oatmeal cookie recipes and before too long - VOILA! My Grandpa's cookies! I was thrilled, to say the least! If you've never tried using mincemeat in your oatmeal cookies, you are missing out! Talk about depth of flavor and MOIST! You won't be sorry you added it!

GRANDPA'S OATMEAL COOKIES

2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 (9 oz) pkg Nonesuch condensed mincemeat

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking sheets liberally with cooking spray.
In mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture. Stir in oats. Crumble mincemeat with your fingers and stir that in until combined. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto greased cookie sheets, Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to cooling racks or foil sheets to finish cooling completely. Store in airtight container for up to a week.
BLESSINGS!

PERFECT PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Throw out everything you ever thought you knew about making Peanut butter cookies and memorize this recipe. It's the last one you'll ever need. These literally were the most PERFECT peanut butter cookies I've ever made! I detest a dry, crumbly, peanut butter cookie! It HAS to be moist to be able to savor that decadent peanut butter flavor you crave in this cookie. These don't have to be dunked, to be enjoyed! You can eat one all by itself and still be in heaven. Although a tall, cold glass of milk or a steaming, hot cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee are perfect compliments to this cookie. I'll NEVER use the "traditional" peanut butter cookie recipe, ever again. THIS one is IT for me!

There are lots of tips and tricks that cookie bakers can share with you to get a "perfect" cookie. But for this one, my biggest tip for you is DON'T OVER-BAKE THEM! And don't skip the step where you coat them in sugar before baking.

PERFECT PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup brown sugar (that's right, I said BROWN sugar!)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup Jif peanut butter
1 large egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tblsp sugar or more, for coating cookie dough balls before baking

Preheat oven to 350.
In large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, softened butter and peanut butter. Beat with mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix again until combined. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the cookie dough mixture. Stir again until combined.
Using a small metal cookie scoop (or a spoon) measure out 1" cookie dough balls. If you don't have a cookie scoop, then just use a spoon to scoop the dough out. Use hands to roll the dough into balls. Roll each one in sugar and transfer to baking sheet. Place cookies 2" apart. Lightly press the tines of a dinner fork flat against each dough ball, creating an indentation. Then make another light indentation perpendicular to the first. Creating that classic "criss-cross" pattern that is so familiar on a peanut butter cookie.
Bake until the cookies are a very light brown - 8 to 10 minutes. 8 minutes was the perfect time for my oven. Cook an additional 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer cookies to sheet of foil to finish cooling. Repeat with remaining dough. Store baked cookies in airtight container for up to a week.
BLESSINGS!

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Here I am again, still on the quest to get hubby off his insulin. The apple fritters were a brain freeze. I didn't technically make them for home, but to take to a new family that had visited. But anytime there is any baking going on, hubby seems to sniff it out! :-) So I will be a good girl and bake things that 'if' he does come sniffing, and he will, the thing he devours, won't serve to kill him! Recently I tried a flourless chocolate cookie for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised! So I thought if that was so good, then I wonder if there is a flourless version of the good ol' PB cookie and voila! Didn't take much searching to find one! I did not have Sucanat on hand (have actually never used it) but I did have bulk Splenda, so I used that. Personally when I make these again, if I use Splenda again, I will knock the amount down to 1/2 cup rather than 3/4. They were amazingly tasty though. It's crazy how you can still make these yummy little treats w/out flour or sugar! Who knew? :-)

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE
(Low Carb - Gluten Free)

3/4 cup Sucanat (if using bulk Splenda, reduce that to 1/2 cup)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. (I used my PC stone sheet pan, so didn't need the parchment paper).
Place sucanat, egg and vanilla in mixing bowl and mix well until smooth. Add in peanut butter and baking soda and mix until combined.
Using a small cookie scoop, scoop up dough and drop on cookie sheet. I put 8 on each pan so they would have room to bake and not run into each other and it was plenty of space. Roll each ball with your hands, and flatten slightly with the tines of a fork, in two directions, giving it the classic " Plaid PB cookie design."
Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until desired doneness. I baked mine for exactly 8 minutes and when I removed the pan from the oven, I left the cookies on the stone for another 5 minutes before I removed them to my sheet of foil to cool completely.

Optional: If you want to make them PBJ thumbprint cookies, roll dough into balls, do not flatten with fork, but instead make slight indentation with thumb. Fill with about 1/2 tsp sugar free jam and bake as directed above.

Yield: 16 cookies

As best I could figure, these were 4 carbs per cookie

PEANUT BUTTER RICE KRISPIE TREATS

We had a cookout after Sunday night service this past week. Everyone was asked to bring a side dish to share. I had a ton of Rice Krispie's for some reason and figured I'd throw together a batch of Rice Krispie treats (which I did). But I still had a ton more cereal! So I whipped up a batch of peanut butter rice krispie treats. They were gone in a flash! One minute the platter was full, I turned my head and a minute later it was empty! LOL Who doesn't love a Rice Krispie Treat?

PEANUT BUTTER RICE KRISPIE TREATS

4 Tblsp butter
1 cup Peanut Butter
1 whole bag mini marshmallows
8 cups Rice Krispie Treats

1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tblsp oil

M & M’s


1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and peanut butter and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add rice krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. You could also wet your hands and pat it down into the pan good and tight.
4. Place the chocolate chips and the oil into a microwave safe bowl and heat for 15 - 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until melted. Spread evenly over peanut butter rice krispie treats.
5. Sprinkle with M & M's
Optional: Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate chips w/ a teaspoon of oil in the microwave and drizzle over the top.
Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

THANK YOU to my friend Nikki for this one. She gave it to me a LONG time ago. The original recipe calls for full fat peanut butter and real sugar, but I've been meaning to try them, using Splenda. I tried it tonight and they are delish! I also used reduced fat peanut butter in these, and you can't tell the difference! If losing weight is no concern of yours, then I've included the regular recipe at the end of this post.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Splenda (bulk)
1 cup reduced fat peanut butter
1 egg

Combine ingredients in bowl, beat with mixer until combined. Using a cookie scoop, form dough into balls and place on baking stone. Flatten with fork. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
Makes about 16 cookies

WW points value: 2 pts

*For those that aren't doing WW and would like the regular recipe:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Mixing directions: Same as above.

RASPBERRY THUMBPRINTS

This little shortbread cookie has become a real family favorite over the years. My friend Chris passed this one on to me and we all love her for it! It's a super simple recipe. Very few ingredients. And if you don't like raspberry, then you can use your own favorite jam in place of it. 

I've used homemade peach jam, Blueberry jam and lemon curd as well. The peach is really yummy. But the raspberry remains the favorite!

RASPBERRY THUMBPRINTS

1 cup butter (NO SUBSTITUTES), softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (Can sub  vanilla) 
2 cups flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Glaze
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (can sub vanilla)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in extract. Gradually add flour until dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center. Fill with jam. Bake at 350°F for 14-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Spoon additional jam into cookies if desired.

Combine glaze ingredients; pour into an icing bag (or quart size ziploc bag), snip a tiny hole in the bag, drizzle in an even pattern over the cookies.

Yield: about 3 1/2 dozen.

*NOTE* I use my finger to make the indentation, but a spoon works too. Also, if you are using Pampered chef bakeware, you may want to shorten the baking time. You don't want these cookies to brown, necessarily. Just a light tan on the bottom. They will finish cooking on the stone when you take them out of the oven.

*Over the years I've experimented with different flavors. One that is really nice is lemon! I swapped out the almond extract for lemon and filled the thumbprint with lemon curd. If you like lemon but don't want them super lemony, you can use vanilla in the cookie dough and glaze and just lemon curd in the imprint. 

I've also done Blueberry jam and peach jam. Both of those are delicious as well. 

Of course, those would both have vanilla in the dough and glaze. 

TURTLES

This has GOT to be one of the easiest Christmas treats I have ever made in my life! It literally took just minutes to make an entire sheet pan full! And they go great in the Christmas goody boxes!

CHEWY TURTLES

A bag of Mini Pretzels
A bag of Rolos (chocolate candy) UNWRAPPED
A bag of WHOLE pecans ( or cashews, walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350.
Spread the pretzels out on a baking sheet.
Put one Rolo on top of each pretzel.

Put into oven for 5 minutes, take them out of the oven. Don't walk away from your oven. The rolos only take 4 or 5 minutes to soften. The rolos won't look melted, they will retain their shape. Now push a nice, big, crunchy pecan down on top of the Rolo`s.
It should be nice and soft and gooey at this point.

Eat immediately or cool and serve. Makes a fun gift to give to someone!

CHOCOLATE COVERED PEANUT BUTTER CRACKERS

Thank you all for allowing me a bit of a posting break. Seems like since Thanksgiving, we have been going non-stop. But recipes and pics are starting to back up in my files, so I wanted to pop on tonight and post a few new ones for you.
This one is SUPER easy and a real favorite during the holidays. The best part is, you don't have any mixing to do and you don't have to fire up your oven either! These are nice for those goody baskets at Christmastime.

CHOCOLATE COVERED PEANUT BUTTER CRACKERS

1 (12 oz.) box round Ritz crackers
Jif Peanut butter
1 lb. white chocolate
3 tbsp. shaved paraffin

Make peanut butter crackers as you usually would, using a decent amount between 2 Ritz crackers. Press the crackers together until peanut butter comes to the edges of the crackers. This gives a nicer look once they are coated. Here they are all piled up, waiting on their chocolate bath!
Place white chocolate and paraffin in top of double boiler. Heat over boiling water until ingredients melt and mixture is smooth. Turn heat down as low as possible.Drop each cracker in the chocolate. Using a fork, turn cracker over to coat other side. Lift cracker and drain excess chocolate. Place on waxed paper to cool. Store in canister. Yield: 4 dozen

CHOCOLATE CHERRY CHEWIES

Here's another one from my daughter in law, Monica. She created these last weekend. They had the youth group over to their house for food, after they raked lawns for our Sr citizens. My daughter Sarah brought one over to me, and said, "These were so good, I just knew you would want to put the recipe on your blog!" She was right! They are so moist, and chewy. And I LOVE the cherries in them! It might look like a brownie in the pic, but I broke the cookie in half, so you could see the cherries inside. THANKS Monica! This one's a keeper!

CHOCOLATE CHERRY CHEWIES

1/3 cup veg. shortening

1/3 cup butter (softened)

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. almond extract

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

2/3 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 whole jar Maraschino cherries, drained and roughly chopped

Mix first 6 ingredients until blended and smooth. Combine thoroughly with dry ingredients Fold in cherries at the end. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. (I used parchment paper on baking stones) Bake at 350 until tops of cookies begin to look cracked. Let stand on baking sheet 5 min., then remove to rack to cool.

Note: If uncertain about whether or not they're done, take them out on the "under" side of done. They'll be chewy and gooey with the consistency of a soft brownie!! YUM

Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE CHIP OREO COOKIES

My TREMENDOUS thanks to Jenny at the Picky Palate, for this one! I'm always on the lookout for new treats and snacks to make for our college kids. They travel home on the weekends and back to school on Sunday nights. This is another one I whipped up for them this weekend. They couldn't wait to start nibbling on them though, and were digging them out of the baggie before they were even out the door! They LOVED them! If I keep this up, they are going to get used to it! hehe *Next time I make them though, I'll keep the oreo chunks a bit bigger*

1 stick softened butter
6 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ Cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
1 Cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.

2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.

3. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

BROWN SUGAR GRANOLA BARS

What's your favorite homemade granola bar recipe? Please write and let me know. I'd love to keep trying new ones. You can either put your recipe in your comment or email me at: labc@iserv.net

I've been promising my girls that I would make these, ever since I came across the recipe a few days ago. It's nice to have healthy snacks in the house instead of junk. And with them both working early mornings, they appreciate having things they can grab on the way out the door, like these granola bars. I had never attempted them before, but they turned out great. VERY tasty. The only thing is, I cut them too big - OOPS! *hehe* I actually cut them twice as big as they should have been. I guess I was going for the actual granola bar look and size. I left them sitting on the island in the kitchen as a surprise to the girls when they get up for work in the morning. I'll let you know how they "score" them! LOL
You can toss in any of your favorite "add ins": mini chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, raisins, M & M's, walnuts, pecans or peanuts, just to name a few.

BROWN SUGAR GRANOLA BARS

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 Tblsp honey
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats, uncooked
1 1/4 cups crispy rice cereal
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
For my add ins, I used: 1/2 cup peanut butter, mini chocolate chips and chopped pecans.

Combine all the ingredients together: mix well. Press into a 9 x 13 baking pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes. Watch them closely. Mine got a bit darker than I would have liked them to. Cool, cut into bars to serve. Makes 3 dozen.

I couldn't help myself, I HAD to drizzle some of them with chocolate!

*NOTE* If you use peanut butter as an add in, omit the cinnamon. The 2 aren't very complimentary tastes - I don't think anyway. Next time I make them, I'll use peanut butter and a tsp of vanilla and omit the cinnamon.

MONSTER COOKIES

My grandson loves to help make these cookies! What kid wouldn't? There are M & M's, chocolate chips and raisins to nibble on while you're mixing them up! I remember as a little girl, my Grandpa loved to bake cookies and he always made a "giant" cookie just for me. So I continue that tradition now with my grandson. He was thrilled with his giant cookie this morning. Seriously though, these cookies are real keepers! My girls love coming home from college, to a batch of these, wrapped up and sitting in the basket, on the island in my kitchen.

MONSTER COOKIES

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup M & M's
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, wrap each cookie individually in saran wrap.