Lemon Cookies

I found the recipe on Pinterest which then directed me HERE. 

These were soooooo yummy!  I ommitted the poppyseeds because honestly, I can't ever taste them AND they are pricy!  I made a special trip to the store to buy lemons and the the zested lemons are STILL sitting in my fridge.  These were so good that I made them AGAIN the next day because we devoured them so quickly.  SO GOOD.

Lemon Glazed Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp poppyseeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or just grease a cookie sheet :)
In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in egg.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined, then stir in poppyseeds.
Drop by 1-inch balls onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, until cookies are set and just begin to brown at the edges (the bottoms may be lightly browned, but not the top of the cookies)
Cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool before glazing.

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Whisk together juice and sugar until icing is a smooth, pourable consistency. Add additional juice if yours is too thick to drizzle easily or additional sugar if it is too thick.
Drizzle over cookies. Cookies should not be hot, but it is ok if they are not completely at room temperature before frosting.

Oatmeal Cookies

These are the cookies I have made in a while.  When we made them this afternoon my 6 year old hugged my legs and said, "You're the best Mom ever!"  That alone makes this trying at least once.  :)

I got the recipe from the back of the Western Family Instant Oatmeal box

1 C brown sugar
1 C granulated sugar
1 C shortening ( I used 1 C softened butter)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs. milk
2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C instant oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350.  Beat shortening/butter and sugars until creamy.  Add eggs, vanilla and milk; mix well.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to wet ingredients, mix well.  Stir in oatmeal and additions * 
Put rounded T of dough on greased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light brown.  Let stand for 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

*Additions*
1 C chocolate chips or peanut butter chips, OR 1 C raisins and 1 C chopped walnuts/pecans,  OR 2 C coconut

Peanut Butter Cookies

I got this recipe from HERE . I followed the recipe except for tweaking a couple of things.
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup shortening *
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Extra sugar
Hershey's kisses *

Preheat oven to 375.
Measure out and whisk the dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream the shortening, sugars, and peanut butter. Then add the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Then combine dry ingredients.
Form into round balls and roll in white sugar.
Put on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 8 min.
Push a Hershey's kiss deep into the center and bake for another 2-5 minutes.

*I haven't ever baked with shortening because I don't have it on hand, so I just did a 1/2 C (1 stick) butter.
*Since we didn't have any kisses, we used M&M's and choc chips. Still just as yummy.

Fruit Pizza

Crust:
1/4 C shortening
1/4 C sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour, vaking powder, and salt. Cover and chill in freezer 10-15 minutes. Press onto greased pizza pan. Roll or cul up the edges of the crust like a pizza to prevent edges from burning. Bake at 375 F for 10 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn!


Cream Cheese Topping:
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 C sugar
Blend well

Lemon Sauce Topping:
1 TB cornstarch
1/2 C sugar
pinch of salt
2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 drop yellow food coloring

Thoroughly mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Stir in 1 C boiling water. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly, then simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice, rind, and food coloring. Makes about 1 cup.

Fruit Pizza:
Spread cream cheese on cooled crust, then spread lemon sauce over the cream cheese. Then add your favorite fruit to make it beautiful and delicious. Apples, mango, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, mandarin oranges, etc. Be creative!

Snickerdoodles

1 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 C flour
1 tsp vanilla

Combine butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Then add soda and flour. Make 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon and sugar.
Bake @ 350 for 8-10 minutes. I have found with these cookies, the less cooking time the better. I like mine really soft.

Chocolate Crinkles

3/4 C melted butter
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
1 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C chocolate chips

In mixing bowl, mix melted butter, cocoa, and sugar. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly mix dry ingredients with the wet, then stir in choc. chips.
Let dough chill 2 hours or overnight. (or not, I didn't and they were still fine)
Preheat oven to 350. Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar.
Bake for 12 minutes.

Instead of powdered sugar we crushed up peppermints and dipped the tops in instead. :)

Sugar Cookies

1/2 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Mix sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and slowly blend with sugar mixture. Let dough chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.

After dough is chilled, roll out dough on a floured surface. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick. (The thicker the better in my opinion) Use favorite cookie cutter of your choice and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on rack and right after they are cooled, cover them!

I don't like to cook mine until they are browned because the softer the better. Play around with baking time until you find your desired texture.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is it just me, or do these cookies NEVER go on sale?? That's why it's good to have a very simple recipe. :) I have no clue who came up with this recipe, but I know I learned it from somebody in Flagstaff.
1 box spice cake
1 can pumpkin
1 bag chocolate chips

Combine cake mix and canned pumpkin and mixed well until all the cake is wet. Then add desired amount of chocolate chips.

Place a heafty spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes depending on size of cookie.It's that easy! Yum.

ps. don't be tempted to add liquid because you don't need it!!!!

Andes Creme de Menthe Cookies

We have decided that these are our new family favorites. Soooo yummy.

1/2 C softened butter (1 stick)
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 package Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips*
2 2/3 C flour

Blend butter, sugar, soda, power, vanilla, and eggs until creamy. Stir in chips and then flour. Roll into small balls and bake on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 fo 8-10 minutes. Leave on pan for 2 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

*I only used 1/2 the bag and I thought it was plenty. Plus, that way you can make 2 batches.
*The first time I made these, both Bryan and I thought something was missing. So this time around I added 1/2 tsp salt and it made a HUGE difference. They were perfect with the salt. Let me know what you do.

(Courtesy of Barb Bakes)

White Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunchers

Fact: I LOVE cooking/baking in a big kitchen. It is so great to actually have room to make cookies and let the girls help. It is even greater to have room to put down a cooling rack. You should look forward to all the yummy baking I will be doing in the near future.

White Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunchers
(that's right, cinnamon toast crunch cereal - be excited)

2 sticks softened butter
1 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
2 1/2 C flour
1 C slightly crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag white chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. In large bowl combing flour, cereal, baking powder and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet.

Add chips until just combined, don't over mix.

Spoon dough in 1 inch balls on cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 9-12 minutes or until edges start to turn golden brown

I have to admit I was very skeptical of these because I am NOT a fan of white chocolate chips, so I only used half the bag of chips - but they were soooo yummy!!! We all couldn't stop eating the dough. Bryan even said, "These are delicious!" The cereal makes them really chewy too. Yummy, yummy, gumdrops!
(Courtesy of picky-palate-com)