Almond Cookies

Hello Everyone!

I am so excited because Chris and I just moved to the Bay Area!  Yay! There is so much to do (and eat) here that my enthusiasm is hard to contain.  Already, we have had the best Thai food that my tastebuds have ever encountered.
I am also ecstatic to once again have my own kitchen!  This means that there will be more recipes to post, so you guys should be excited about that too.

Today, I am making cookies.  These are my favorite cookies to make, and go fabulously with hot tea (especially Earl Gray or Sweet Orange Spice).

I fell in love with these cookies as a little girl because my aunt always made them for her Christmas open house.  She even adds food coloring to make them red and green...very festive.

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp almond extract
4-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Here is what you do:

Preheat your oven to 350

Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the oil (and food coloring if you wish)
Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add to mixture.
I use a 1-1/2 Tbsp cookie scoop to get nice, even amounts of dough. My aunt rolls them into balls and presses the middle down with her thumb.  Either way you prefer, they will turn out deliciously.

Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. The bottoms should be starting to turn a nice golden color.

That's all there is to these scrumptious cookies.  I hope you all give them a try!

~Best Wishes~

Pistachio Pudding Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Happy Hump Day!

I hope you all are well today!  And, I hope you are ready for some delicious cookies!

Pistachio Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

They are soft, chewy, delicious cookies!

Here is what you need to make them

1 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 box pistachio pudding mix

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

2-1/2 cup flour

1-12 ounce bag white chocolate chips

What to do

Preheat oven to 350

Cream together butter and sugar.  Then add the eggs and vanilla.

Mix in pistachio pudding mix, flour and baking soda.

Fold in white chocolate chips.

Scoop out the batter (about the 2 Tbsp worth) on ungreased cookie sheet...

 and bake for 8-10 minutes.

These are a fabulous summer cookie because they are so light and flavorful!!!

Try these for your next potluck or party, and enjoy all of the compliments you receive!

~Best Wishes~

Pumpkin Cookies with Butterscotch Chips

I love baking!  The endless possibilities entices me to try and create simple goodies that taste great!

Now that I am back in California, I am back to baking multiple times a week because I have people around to give all of the goodies to, so I do not eat them.

Over the weekend, it was all about chocolate chip cookies and lemon bars, and today I made pumpkin cookies with butterscotch chips.  The best part is that it takes only 4 ingredients to make these cookies!  That's right, 4 ingredients total for great cookies!

You will need:

1 box of cake mix (I used vanilla because that is what I had.  I know yellow will work too, since I have made pumpkin cupcakes with yellow cake mix and it is tasty)

1 - 15oz can pumpkin (not pie filling!!!!)

1 - 12oz bag butterscotch chips

1/2 tsp baking soda

What to do:

Preheat your oven

Next, mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.  I just used a rubber spatula, but I am sure a mixer would work too.

Drop about 2-Tbsp of the batter onto a cookie sheet at least 2-inches apart.  They will not spread too much.  

These are what they look like going into the oven.

Set the timer for 10 minutes and wait for the goodness...

These are the most simple cookies that I have ever made!

They are kid approved!

I hope you enjoy!

~Best Wishes~

Everything Cookies

Hello Everybody!

I hope you all are hungry because today it is time to make Everything Cookies!  I made a batch last night to send to Christopher and I thought it would be good to share the recipe with everyone since they are just too good.  I know they are Christopher's favorite cookie, so when I asked him what treat he wanted me to send, I already knew what the answer was going to be.

This is what we will be shooting for today.

You will need

 - 1 cup butter, soft

 - 2 cups brown sugar

 - 2 eggs

 - 2 cups flour

 - 1 tsp baking powder

 - 1/2 tsp salt

 - 1/2 tsp baking soda

 - 4 cups Oatmeal (I use the old fashioned type)

 - 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 - 1 cup butterscotch chips

 - 1 cup coconut flakes

 - 1 cup chopped pecans

First pre-heat your oven to 350.  Cream together the butter and brown sugar and then add your eggs.  Next mix in your flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Finally fold in all the goodies (oatmeal, chocolate and butterscotch chips, coconut and pecans).

You should have something that looks like this

If you haven't invested in a cookie scooper yet, I suggest you do that now.  This recipe will make a lot of cookies!  Last night I made over 6 dozen with this one batch.  The first time I made these I doubled the batch and was up all night baking cookies!

Now just scoop out some dough onto your ungreased cookie sheets.  Although they will not spread out, I still do not advise overcrowding the cookie sheet.  I put on 6 balls of dough per sheet.

Bake them in the oven for 10 minutes.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then take them off to a cookie rack to finish cooling completely.

I know this is weird but do not eat them straight out of the oven....these are the only cookie I have ever had/made that are way better once completely cooled!  So be patient, I promise you it is worth the wait.

Have fun!

~Best Wishes~