Soft Sugar Cookies

Beat together:
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
Add and beat until smooth:
1 egg
Mix in:
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Add:
½ cup milk (2% or whole)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add:
2 ½ cups (or more) flour

Work until soft but not sticky
Roll out and cut with cookie cutters.
Bake 375 deg. For 6 – 10 minutes (thicker cookies need 10-12 minutes)

PUMPKIN SQUARES

PUMPKIN SQUARES

Crust:

1 yellow cake mix (reserve 1 cup for topping)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg

Mix and spread into a 9x13"pan

Filling:

1 (1 lb) can of pumpkin

2 1/2  teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see note)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2/3 cup evaporated milk

Mix and spread gently over crust.

Topping:

1 cup reserved cake mix

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup softened butter

Mix and crumble over filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. or until set.  Top with whipped cream.  (I prefer to cool the dessert and place in fridge for several hours or overnight, as I like it better cold.)

mmmmmmmmmmmm! GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

note: I add 1/4 tsp salt to the filling and if you prefer I use the following instead of Pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ginger

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/8 tsp Cloves

Nothing wrong with Pumpkin Pie Spice~ matter of fact~ might be less expensive for you if you don't have all the others. Cloves is optional, if you don't have that, no worries.

Homemade graham crackers

homemade graham crackers

from girl who bakes (pretty seriously modified from martha's recipe)

yields approximately 30

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. whisk flours, salt, baking soda, and spices in a medium bowl, set aside.

2. in the bowl of stand mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar, and honey. add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

3. using your hands, shape dough into a smooth-ish ball, and place between two sheets of floured parchment. roll out to about 1/8 inch thick. (note: mine are obviously thicker and i sort of like them like that, it's this cracker-shortbread-biscuit hybrid, but you can choose your own adventure with this one.)

4. cut out desired shapes and place on another sheet of parchment. chill in freezer until firm, about 20 minutes.

5. remove dough from freezer and pierce crackers using a fork. transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment and bake, rotating halfway through, until dark golden brown (8-9 minutes, depending on thickness). let cool on wire racks.

nutritional information*

calories: 63, fat: 2.9g, cholesterol: 8mg, sodium: 41mg, carbs: 8.3g, sugars: 3.27g, protein: 0.64g

*this information is totally dependent on how many you yield. if it helps, the total caloric amount for the entire batch is 1890 cals, which you then can divide by how many cookies you end up getting for a more accurate number.

Grandma Prigmore's Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 c. soft butter or margarine

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3 Tbs. cream or evaporated milk

3 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. double acting baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in egg, vanilla, and cream/evaporated milk. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Roll out and bake at 400 degrees for 8 min. Do not over-bake! Cookies are white on top when done.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

Peanut butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In another mixing bowl, beat together butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. I have a powerful Kitchen-Aid mega mixer which could mix cement so I used the mixer the entire time. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1-1/4 inches in diameter.

For peanut butter filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 32 (3/4-inch) balls. On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.

Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake ‘em in for 8-10 minutes or until they’re just set and surface is slightly cracked. Let cookies stand for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool. They will be slightly soft so don’t overbake ‘em unless you want to play ice hockey out front with them.

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 Tbs. cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. {shortening, butter}, melted
1 c. finely chopped nuts (optional)
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 3/4 c. hot water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Blend in milk, vanilla, and shortening; stir in nuts. Pour into ungreased square pan (9x9x2 inches). In another bowl, stir together brown sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon; sprinkle over batter. Pour hot water over batter.

Bake 45 minutes (you could do less if you like more fudge and less cake). Eat it hot, with ice cream!

9 servings.

White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients: 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) white chocolate chips *I actually used about 1 c. white and 3/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chips


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets. 

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


*Recipe adapted from Nestle Toll House White Chip Chocolate Cookies recipe

(Mostly) Whole-Wheat Bread

This is really Mom's recipe, but I tweaked it a little, and I've been really happy with the results.  No more dried-out, heavy-as-a-brick loaves of sandpaper!

THE INGREDIENTS:
3/4 c. milk
1 large egg
1/8 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 TBS. honey
1 1/2 TBS. melted butter
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. bread flour
3 TBS. wheat gluten


THE PREPARATION:
First, heat the milk 'til it is warm, even steaming.  Beat in the egg and the water, then dump it in the bread machine pan.  Add salt, honey and butter.  *Tip: I dip the measuring spoon in the melted butter before I measure the honey, that way you're not waiting a half hour for the honey to dribble off--it just slides right off the spoon.  


Dump in wheat flour, bread flour, and gluten, then hit the dough setting on the bread machine...or, obviously, you can just hit the correct bread setting.  I much prefer my bread without the hole in the middle, and in traditional bread shape, so I like to bake it in the oven.  SO, once you've got your dough...


THE BAKING:
...remove the dough from the bread machine pan, and pinch and pull it, or roll it to fit into a bread pan.  Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise a little.  I usually just heat up the oven and let the bread rise on top of the stove, so it goes pretty fast.  It's ready to bake when it's risen just above the top of the bread pan.  Pop it in the oven at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when you knock it.  Set it out to cool before slicing, unless you are ravenous.


THE ENJOYING: