Stir-n-Drop Sugar Cookies

The Date: 16 December 2011

The Occasion: Christmas is coming up!

The Recipe: From this little gem of a cookbook I got at Ollie's years ago.

How it Went:
These are extremely easy, delightful little sugar cookies. Definitely will be my go-to cookie when I'm in a rush, or when I'm cooking with little daughters someday. Requires only things you most certainly have on hand already. They're not super-sweet, but they puff up nicely and would look pretty for any occasion dressed up with appropriately colored sprinkles or sugar. I made them Wednesday night for Pete's prayer group which met at our house, but only a half-batch. They turned out well so I made a double batch on Friday night. The recipe given below is the regular, single batch. I recommend doubling it, though, no matter the occasion. You can never have too many sugar cookies, and these are so easy, it's worth doing a lot at once.

What You Need:
sugar
vegetable oil
baking powder
vanilla
salt
eggs
flour

Your Turn:
Mix together with a spoon

• 3/4 C sugar
• 2/3 C vegetable oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs

Add 2 C flour, a little at a time, and stir until a soft dough forms.

Drop rounded teaspoons-ful on an ungreased cookie sheet about two inches apart. Press down to about 1/4 inch thickness, and decorate as desired. Giant was all out of red and green sprinkles, so I had to use these multicolored ones. I found an excellent way to distribute sprinkles on a cookie with my olive spoon! The little spoon is designed with slots in the bottom to collect olives out of the jar and drain the liquid on the way out. But I found if you scoop up a small bit of sprinkles in the edge of the spoon, then slowly tilt it and gently shake it over the cookie, they will sprinkle out nicely. Then just tilt it back and move to the next cookie.

Challenge: Hold an olive spoon full of sprinkles in one hand and shake it slowly over a cookie without making a mess. In the other hand, hold a camera and take a decent picture without trembling the camera and causing blurriness.

Put in a 400 degree oven for 8 minutes. I baked two trays at once, and switched their position in the oven after 4 minutes. That way each tray got 4 minutes closer to the heat, and nothing got burnt. Take them out when the edges just start to look golden.

Merry Christmas!

Homemade Graham Snackers

The Date: Various

The Occasion: For my birthday, Daddy gave me ingredients to make my very own Graham Snackers, replicas of the treats we enjoyed on our MS-150 bike tour this September.

The Recipe: Assumed from experience.

How it Went: So delicious. A perfect addition to any lunch box. Easy to make the night before and stick in the fridge. So yummy the next day, especially with the jam Dad bought me.

What You Need:
graham crackers
jam
creamy peanut butter

Your Turn:
Place two graham crackers on a piece of aluminum foil, or a cutting board or some surface you prefer.

Spread peanut butter on each one.

One one cracker, add a layer of jam.

Then sandwich the sides together.

Eat immediately, or wrap up in aluminum foil, refrigerate overnight, and eat the next day for lunch!

Chunky Applesauce

The Date: 25 October 2011

The Occasion: Home sick with a bad cold. I had some apples that I thought might be better as sauce, and a recipe I'd been wanting to try. Perfect combination to make some homemade applesauce.

The Recipe: From Taste of Home magazine.

How it Went: Perfectly. I wouldn't change a thing. It was incredibly easy and absolutely delightful. The only thing I'd do is make a bigger batch.

What You Need:
apples
brown sugar
cinnamon
vanilla

Your Turn:
Peel and cube apples. You need 8 cups of cubed apples.

Stir apples in large soup pot with 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, and 1 tsp cinnamon.

Cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add 1 tsp of vanilla. Mash well.

Serve warm or cold.

The best medicine.

Cinnamon-Pecan Bread Pudding Cake

The Date: 16 October 2011

The Occasion: My homemade bread got a little too stale to eat. I was going to make croutons, but I gave in to my sweet tooth and decided I'd rather have bread pudding to eat all week.

The Recipe: From Paula Deen at foodnetwork.com, with some modifications.

How it Went:
I made this one time before, and it was perfect. This time I didn't have pecans, so I had to make it sans pecans. Also, the sugar seemed a bit much. I've cut down the sugar quantities in the recipe below. It's a wonderful indulgence dessert to make for yourself, but also nice enough to serve to guests.

Your Turn:
Cut slightly stale bread into cubes, about 6 cups cubed bread.

Mix in a large bowl

Bread soaking, sugar and butter being blended.

• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar
• 5 beaten eggs
• 1 and 3/4 cups milk

Then stir in 2 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp cinnamon.


Pour this mixture over the bread. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Mix together

• half a stick of butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Pour bread mixture into greased pan (9x13 or a smaller casserole if you like it deeper). Sprinkle brown sugar and nut mixture over the top.

A little juicy. Too much sugar in this batch.

Bake for 35-45 minutes (longer if you're using a deeper pan) at 350. You want it not to be jiggly when you take it out. If it jiggles, give it another minute or two, then check again.

This time mine turned out a little juicy. There was too much sugar, and I think too much milk. Now, Paula Deen's recipe calls for just 3 cups of bread. But I used almost six. So I can't fathom how juicy her pudding must be! I like it more like a bread pudding cake - something you can cut slices of.