Lemon Crinkles

Lemon Crinkles...a really yummy cookie


Now, I have made these with a cake mix. But from scratch is the tops!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
2 1/2 dozen cookies...I always double this b/c cookies don't last long in my house!

1/2 C. butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour

confectionery sugar

Oven: 350 degrees.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, lemon juice, zest and vanilla and beat until combined. Scrap sides and mix again for 30 seconds.  Add the dry ingredients...and stir until combined.  Scrap sides well.

Place confectionery sugar in a shallow dish.  Scoop out balls, roll in sugar. Place on  cooking sheet with plenty of space between cookies, as these cookies will spread. I put 12 on a sheet.

I cook them for 12 minutes. (Recipe said 9-10...but I think my cookies are bigger.)  Let them cool for about a minute or two before transferring them to a cooking rack.  These are sooooo good. And  friend just told me to try it using oranges!  And I will. Now, I have also added a splash of lemon extract...just to make it a bit more lemony.

 

Two new recipes

This week, in keeping with my new and improved resolution to make more cookie recipes, we made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.  (Pix to follow.)


Peanutbutter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips



Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375ºF (175ºC).

Line a cookie sheet or two with parchment.....definitely a must!

Cream butter and sugars until creamy, then add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Add Peanut butter and continue to beat until combined.

Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir to combine.

Add chips and stir again.

Drop small spoonfuls of dough onto parchment (you should get a dozen per sheet).

Bake 12 minutes or until just golden.

Remove from oven and allow to rest on the sheet 1 minute before removing with a spatula.



 Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 18 cookies (But I got 22 cookies out of it.  Better double it.  This is not enough for 7 kids and 3 adults at a Friday Night party!)



Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips



Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

My New Year's Resolution

Yep that's right. I have already thunked up my New Year's Resolution...about a month ago. So I suppose it could go in affect today..being the day before DECEMBER FIRST! 

 Yes..COOKIES. I can cook/bake most anything. (Except my neighbor's Ghiradelli chocolate chunk cookies which NEVER turn out when I make them!)  But I prefer chocolate chip cookies. So, we eat them... at lot. Like...every few days. And yes, they are only good "fresh out of the oven." And if there are extras, I'll sometimes slide them down into the garbage so Ken doesn't see them. Then, we can make more FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN chocolate chip cookies.  haha.

So, about a month ago, I decided this year...2011, I would not make any chocolate chip cookies.  Oh this is going to be hard.  Really hard. At first, I thought I'd just make a new cookie each time.  But now, I think I might have to give myself 2 or 3 tries to "perfect the recipe." 

Tonight's recipe:

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookie

2/3 c. butter or margarine softened
2/3 c. brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 six oz. package of Craisins
2/3 c. white chocolate chunks...or chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Using an electric mixer to beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  The recipe says to combine oats, flour, baking soad and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition.  (I simply dumped all the dry ingredients into the wet and it turned out fabulous.)  Stir in Craisings and white chocolate. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes. (Mine took just over 6 minutes. I took them out when they looked just barely done if not under done...PERFECT.)  Cool on wire rack. Makes 2 1/2 dozen. (Yep...I got that many cookies!)

And..yes...pickiest boy and my sometimes picky boy both enjoyed more than one!!

Maybe I can bend my chocolate chip ban if someone sends me a recipe that is different than the one I always make!  Anyone?

New Family Favorite...I think...

I went to the bus stop today to pick up my kids. One of the other moms was there. I was surprised to see her b/c she had said that she was going to the Kindergarten Halloween Celebration. (Yes CELEBRATION, b/c we can not call them PARTIES.) As soon as she spoke I understood why. Her barely audible voice sounded aweful. So I offered, repeatedly, to take her 2 kids home with me for the afternoon so she could get some rest. (When I took them back home several hours later, she told me that she had fallen asleep as soon as she got back in the house.)

Meanwhile, I thought that I might cook some dinner for the family. Chicken Enchiladas are easy to make a double batch for 2 families when I am bringing in dinner to a friend. But, I realized that I had no peppers. So...I grabbed an old Church cookbook and opened it to see what I could fine.

Right away I found a recipe for Monterey Chicken. Looking at the list of ingredients, I was pretty sure that I had olives on my shelf and figured I could probably substitute regular milk for evaporated milk. But to my delight, we had the olives AND the evaporated milk. (Homework for self: what is the different between evaporated and regular milk??)

Here is the recipe. Well, my recipe...for I made some changes. It said that it called for 4 lbs of chicken. But I'm thinking that is a typo and should be 4 pieces of chicken. I also doubled the amount of ingredients for the coating too.

Dawn Mercedes' Monterey Chicken

1/4 c. flour

7-8 T taco seasoning

4 pieces of chicken breast...I had chicken tenders...and had a heaping plate of them.

1/2 c. butter, melted

2 c. tortilla chips, crushed...a lot

3 T. finely chopped onion

1T. oil

2 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 can evaporated mlk

1/4 t. hot pepper sauce (or a few dabs)

1 c. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (I had colby monterey jack in stock today.)

1/4 c. sliced olives

1 t. lemon juice (or a splash)

Put flour and taco seasoning in brown lunch bag. Shake chicken (a few at a time) in the bag to coat. Dip into the butter. Then roll in the tortilla chips. Back at 375 for 50 minutes. (Again I did not set a timer so just keep an eye on them.) I flipped the chicken at some point during the cook time.

Saute onion in the oil. Then add flour, salk, milk and hot sauce. Cook until thick. Add cheese, olives and lemon juice. Stir until cheese melts. Serve chicken and sauce on a bed of lettuce.

Ken loved this...I mean LOVED it. LIke he was trying to get every last chip morsel left in the pan. And the cheese sauce would make a nice dip for chips. We had maybe a cup left over.

Hawiian Haystacks...

Melissa, the lurker, asked what Hawiian Haystacks are. And I believe that someone in the past asked that question when I mentioned them before. It is my youngest's favoritest dinner. haha. Seriously, he would be content to eat it every day.



Here is my recipe and it serves the 5 of us just fine. The original recipe is actually twice this size.



Cook up some rice. My family likes "real rice." I cook 3 cups of water to 1.5 cups of rice. But if you can always do the 5 minute rice too.



Boil 3 nice size boneless, skinless chicken breasts in water. Cut them up into small pieces. I actually like to chop, chop, chop it all up with my Pampered Chef chopper. Do whatever you prefer. Set aside.



Dissolve 1 chicken bullion cube in 1 cup of boiling water...set aside.



On low heat , melt 1/2 stick of butter/margarine in a medium to large pot. Add 1/4 cup flour. Mix. Add the 1 cup of broth that you have already made. Add 1 cup of milk. Turn up the heat and add salk and pepper to taste. (We like pepper!) And stir often. It'll start to boil and thicken. Turn it down and add your chopped up chicken. You might want to add more salt and pepper.



That's pretty much all that it is...now to "make" it. Start with a pile of rice and add on the chicken mixture. Then top with toppings. This is what we add:



cheddar cheese

tomatoes (except for C who doesn't like them)

celery

slivered almonds

green onions

mandrian oranges



Top with Chow Mein noodles. My kids love to eat this with chop sticks.



Other top options are:

peas

pineapple

olives





Goodess...I know there are tons of other "stuff" that people put on it. My friend Melanie says she tops it with whatever she has in her fridge that day..which could be gross. haha.



One more tip: Build your haystack with the cheese on top of the rice, then the chicken sauce. That way the cheese with melt and become ooey, gooey great!



Enjoy!



PS. Melissa...the reason why I get all this done is b/c I can't sweat the small stuff. Yes there is a pile of laundry waiting to be ironed, folded and put away. It's time to mop the kitchen floor...again. But it all gets done and messy again. Just learn to clean faster and not worry if the laundry isn't completely done. FYI, (which I am sure you know with 4 kids) the laundry will never BE done!

A Warm Welcome

In a few short minutes, my two school aged kids will bound through the door and I will be able to greet them with fresh cinnamon rolls and regular rolls...fresh from the oven. I posted this picture a few weeks ago of some mouth watering bread.




When I was about to be married, I told my grandmother that I didn't want the bread machine that she was planning on gifting me as a wedding present. I've never used a bread machine but I know how good hand made bread tastes. So I have always done mine by hand. I probably don't make bread nearly as often as I should. But it's always a great treat. (And sharing cinnamon rolls with my neighbor keeps our street plowed!)

Here is the recipe that I use for white bread. It makes a double batch. Remember, as in most things, you need to practice. My mom can turn out perfect rolls every time. Mine are mostly good..some times not so hot. I always mix this by hand. And after adding the eggs and oil, I literally mix in the flour by hand.

(haha...Kids just walked in. I heard C exclaim, "YUM!" as soon as his nose got inside the house!)

My kids are now gleefully eating fresh cinnamon rolls! Such a treat after a long hard day at school.

Linda Zuro was a friend of the family who shared this fantastic recipe with us years ago.


Linda Zero's Bread Dough

Prove for 10 minutes (at least):
4 c. water
4 Tbl. yeast
1 c. sugar (1/4 c. for dinner rolls)

Add 6 cups of flour and then prove about 15 minutes.

Add 2 eggs at room temperature, 4 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. oil and mix.

Add 6-8 cups flour. Mix and knead.

Rise 1-1.5 hours.

Punch down. Roll out. Rise 1 more hour. Bake 375 degrees until done.

When I make this size batch, I cut my dough into 4 balls to form 4 pans of cinnamon rolls. If I want to make half dinner rolls and half cinnamon rolls, I put in about 1/3 c. sugar. The brown sugar and cinnamon coupled with confectionary sugar frosting on top is just fine for cinnamon rolls.

Remember...practice makes perfect. And when you're practicing, your family will enjoy eating up the rolls!

Now, is my homemade beef vegetable soup done yet? It's going to be a fine dinner! Especially with the snowflakes that are still falling here in Michigan!

Two Questions...

Why did I only make a half of a batch of bread today?

Why don't I made bread more often?





The house smells delightful, E and I ate some bread before the kids came home....and then he and the school kids got another one after school. I can all but restrain myself from rushing down there and eating 3 more rolls! haha. I think I just might have to make another batch tomorrow!