Tag Archives: cookies

Chewy Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies

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shapeimage 1 410 300x171 Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is one I don’t make often since someone in our house doesn’t like coconut. I might have mentioned that fact in De Lime in De Coconut Cheesecake post, but still refuse to name the accused. Anyway, because of the raging coconut controversy, I only make these cookies when:

  1. We have company, or
  2. I’m taking a meal to large family.

So when a friend fell last week and broke her writing wrist, I volunteered to take a meal – partly out of compassion and partly because someone at our house had a hankering for coconut-oatmeal cookies. Of course, that person had to run quality assurance tests on the cookies, several tests in fact, until that person deemed them fit for human consumption. That person, who shall remain nameless, thought they were mighty tasty and hopes you think so, too.

Chewy Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup all-purpose)
2 cups oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar, butter and eggs until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add oatmeal and coconut. Stir well.

Drop dough by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8 – 12 cookies, depending on how chewy you like them. Makes about 4 – 5 dozen.

Congo Squares

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shapeimage 1 443 300x171 Congo Squares

Whoever gave this recipe to Mom way back in the 1960s did our family a great favor. When we did the kid thing – you know, coming home after school and announced we needed to take treats somewhere after supper – this was the fall back recipe. Because these bars call for melted butter and are mixed in a sauce pan, they are quick and easy to make.

I’ve contributed the recipe to numerous church and organization cookbooks and never seen another one like it. If anyone knows why they’re called “Congo Squares” please enlighten the rest of us!

Congo Squares

2/3 cups butter                                                       2 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs                                                                     2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt                                                    2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips                                            1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add brown sugar and stir well. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after adding each one. Stir in dry ingredients until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Spread batter in well-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Cut into bars immediately and let cool before serving.
*It’s better to under-bake than over-bake these.  Under-baked, they’re chewy and caramelly. Over-baked, they’re dry and crumbly.

Brown Sugar Snaps

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shapeimage 1 552 300x171 Brown Sugar Snaps

Warning: These cookies are addictive. Unless you like to live dangerously, don’t read another word.

Truth be told, all the food at Idaho Family Camp is addictive. Every time a nummy recipe is posted, I’m enabling an addiction. Usually it’s my addiction. But post-wedding and post-family camp, inundated with veggies from our CSA, and deep into a twelve step, healthy eating program (which means Hiram puts the key to the padlocks on the fridge and pantry twelve steps up on a ladder I’m scared to climb), I’m feeling strong enough to resist temptation.

I’d never tasted these before or even heard of them before this summer. Brown sugar snaps are sort of ginger snap meets snickerdoodle, molasses crinkle meets sugar cookie. And as mentioned before, they’re addictive. Very addictive. Give them a try and leave a comment with your description. But remember, you’ve been warned. So don’t blame me when you can’t stop eating them!

Brown Sugar Snaps

Cream:
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
4 sticks butter
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add: 2 eggs and beat again,

Add:
5 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Chill dough for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough into balls, dip in sugar, and place on a cookie sheet. Turn oven down to 375 degrees just before putting in cookies. Bake about 9 minutes. Cookies should have nice deep cracks. You will need to reheat the oven to 400 degrees between pans.

Not My Best Day

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shapeimage 1 545 300x171 Not My Best Day

Today has not been my best day.

I got up bright and early to start the wash. As I hung the last piece of laundry on the clothesline, it began to rain.

Thinking it would only take an hour, I organized the snake pit of cords and electronic devices in my office, record bills, and run errands before sitting down to write. By the time I finished it was almost lunchtime.

When Anne said she wouldn’t be home for dinner, I decided to make a nice lunch for the family since Hiram’s home today, and we don’t get to eat together very often. The blueberry pie boiled over.

When I finally settled down work on my new website, I clicked on a page that needed editing. But the page wasn’t there, though I distinctly remembering clicking the save button. It took a long time to write last week. It will take a long time to write it again.

While I worked on the website, Anne made cookies. When I discovered the page was missing, I went to the kitchen and ate three cookies before realizing they had raisins in them. I don’t like cookies with raisins in them.

An email greeted me when I got back to work again. The CD I sent for a church group to review wouldn’t play for them. It wasn’t until after burning a new CD that I reread the email. They’d been putting the CD in a DVD player.

This definitely has not been my best day.

Choosing an image to accompany this dismal post wasn’t easy, until I found this picture of the hydrangea on the east side of our house. Even though today has not been my best day,  the picture made me smile because no matter how bad today is, the hydrangeas keep blooming. Not only that, but the sun is shining (thank goodness I left the clothes on the line in hopes of better weather), my husband loves me, my kids are healthy and in love, we can pay our bills each month, and our sorry excuse of a dog now lives with my brother and his saintly wife.

Today hasn’t been my best day, but it’s still very, very good.