G’s Favorite Cookie

G loves these cookies. We’ve been making them for years. You probably think you’ve seen making them as well, but you would probably be wrong. G wants everything but the kitchen sink in these cookies. They are not chocolate chips , they are much better than that.

  • 1 cup butter 
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/4  cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
  • 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup craisins

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and set rack in middle of oven.
  2. Cream butter.  Add the sugars and beat with the butter until smooth on medium speed. We totally beat it until it is incredibly creamy
  3. Add the eggs and beat on medium just until incorporated with butter and sugars, about 30 seconds.
  4. Turn the mixer off. Add the dry ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients on low until the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together.
  5. Hand mix the nuts, chips and craisins.
  6. Place large tablespoons on parchment on cookie sheets.
  7. Bake approximately 13 to 15 minutes.
  8. The cookies are done when the top is a bit golden and the bottom is also golden.
  9. Do not over bake. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.  End of joke, laugh here!

*  From the Recipe Box:

Give this a try; it’s totally different and totally worth the time.

Next time we’re adding oatmeal and maybe butterscotch chips.

They do need to stay on the tray for a few minutes to let them firm up.

and remember what Nelson Mandela said:   I never lose.  I either win or learn.  Big kiss, Lynn

Mom’s Beef Soup

Growing up, I doubt if a week went by without a pot of soup on the stove. My dad loved soup and mom loved making it. This was probably the favorite. It wasn’t really my favorite. I’m more of a broth girl, but I still love well cooked soup.

  • 2 quarts water
  • 12 ounces beef shank
  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 2 large carrots, sliced
  • 1 rutabaga, diced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 2 leeks, sliced
  • 1 small head cabbage, sliced

Bring water to boil in a large pot. Place beef shank in, and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Let cool overnight. Lift meat out, trim off gristle and cut meat into medium sized pieces; set aside. Skim fat from surface of stock, or strain through a fine sieve.

  • Step 2

Return stock to heat, and bring to a boil. Add onions, carrots and rutabaga. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 hour. Add potatoes, and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the leeks, cabbage, parsley and reserved meat. Simmer 10 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

  • from the Recipe Box: My dad called this Irish soup, but I don’t know why

I like my veggies bigger. G likes his smaller. Needless to say, he’s wrong

and remember: MLK JR said: History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.  Big kiss, Lynn                                                                       

Chocolate Peanut Clusters

I need a sweet treat to start the new year. These little one bite nibbles are just the thing. Those TV commercials where they take a wee bite of a piece of candy make me gag. I can put 2 or 3 in my mouth at once.

DIRECTIONS

  • Place both chips and shortening in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at High 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred.
  • Stir in peanuts.
  • Drop by teaspoons into 1-inch diameter candy or petit four papers. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Store tightly covered in refrigerator.

*From the Recipes Box

Feel free to replace the peanuts with malt balls or anything else. We put in some craisins as well.

and remember: Never be bullied into silence.  Never allow yourself to be made a victim.  Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.

Compost Fudge

We made compost cookies a few months ago and I really liked them, but now it’s time to try something different.   It’s time for compost fudge.  Why not?  In my compost cookies I tried to put in a bit of everything.

Bacon and potato chips might be the most interesting flavors.  And yet, why wouldn’t you?  The cookies were certainly interesting.

1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips

1½ cups butterscotch chips

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup cooked and chopped bacon

1 cup shelled pecans

½ cup crushed pretzels

½ cup crushed potato chips

2 tablespoons coffee grounds

Butter, for greasing the pan

Heat an enamel Dutch oven over medium low heat.   Add the condensed milk, the semisweet and the butterscotch chips and the vanilla.  Stir until the chocolate melts, then add the pecans, bacon, coffee grounds pretzels and potato chips to the fudge, reserving some for topping. Stir to combine. Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with parchment paper and butter the sides or, to make the fudge in the form of a wreath, butter a round cake pan.  Use a rubber spatula to spoon the fudge into the pan and leave it bumpy on top. Sprinkle the reserved potato chips, pecans, bacon and pretzels all over the top allowing them to adhere to the fudge. Cool the fudge in fridge for 30 minutes. Slice 1/4 inch thick in 3 inch wide pieces.

*  From the Recipe Box:

Give this a try; it’s totally different and totally worth the time.

and remember what Nelson Mandela said:   I never lose.  I either win or learn.  Big kiss, Lynn