Cowboy Cookies

This recipe is from Quaker Oats

Toasting the nuts and coconut really brings out the flavor and adds to the overall deliciousness of this cookie.

Cowboy Cookies modified recipe from Quaker Oats
2  cups all-purpose flour
1/2  teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/4  teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup apple sauce, drained
1/4  cup canola oil
1  cup firmly packed brown sugar
1  cup granulated sugar
3  medium eggs
1  teaspoon vanilla
2  cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 1/2  cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3  cup chopped nuts, toasted
2/3  cup shredded coconut, toasted
2/3  cup raisins

Heat oven to 350°F.
Combined flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside.
In large mixing bowl, mix apple sauce, oil,  and sugars, until well incorporated.
Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
Gradually add flour mixture.
Add oats, chocolate chips, nuts, coconut and raisins; mix well.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (or a #60 or #40 disher) onto ungreased cookie sheets; flatten slightly
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.
Yield : about 4.5 dozen



Notes: Initially it was a really dry crumbly dough. I added an extra medium egg. Problem solved.
My reason ~ maybe when the recipe says "2 eggs" it meant large. If so, 2 medium eggs weren't going to cut it, an extra was needed. Don't know if that was the best solution, but it worked for me.

Lemon Cookies

In my youth, we once had a ward luau in our backyard. As part of the menu, there was your standard luau fare: teriyaki steak, kalua pork, and chicken long rice.  And the not so standard: lemon and orange cookies, orange rolls, and mandarin orange jello. I love citrusy flavors and smells.

The cookies and rolls were so melt in your mouth delicious!! I was so glad that a handout of the recipes was provided (on bright pink and yellow paper. I can always find it in the midst of all the white printouts of recipes).

When I make these I usually go for lemon, but during the holidays I enjoy orange. Then for Chinese New Year, I'll make almond cookies. I love how easily I can change the flavoring to suit my mood or season.

Lemon Cookies recipe modified from Bonnie Workman
1/4 cup apple sauce, drained
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Place oil, apple sauce, and sugar in a large bowl and mix.
Add egg, lemon extract and lemon zest.* Mix well.
Add flour mixture in 3 batches to the sugar mixture. Mix well after each addition. Dough will be stiff.
Use a #60 disher (or a tablespoon) to scoop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges.

* A variety of extracts may be used to change the flavor of this cookie.
Orange: 2 teaspoon orange extract, 1 tablespoon orange zest
Almond: 2 teaspoon almond extract, 1/4 cup finely chopped toasted almonds
Vanilla: 2 teaspoon vanilla

36-40 cookies

Dark Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

This recipe comes from the back of the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips bag. 

 When making cookies for everyone to eat, I use dark chocolate or 60% cacoa bittersweet chocolate chips, since it has less or no milk in them. It's great for the 3A's!

Dark Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) dark chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped toasted pecan

Heat oven to 375°F.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Mix applesauce, oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix.
Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.
Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired.
Scoop with #60 disher (a tablespoon) or drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Cool completely.
About 5 dozen cookies.

It makes so much that I only bake one dozen,

 then freeze the rest.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Place cookie dough balls close together, but not touching 

Freeze until hard. (I wait an hour).

Label a gallon sized zip top freezer bag with the recipe name, date, cooking temperature and bake time.

(I add an extra two minutes to the original bake time)

Bag cookie dough balls, and keep in freezer.

Thaw the balls, while the oven is preheating. 

The boys love coming home and having freshly baked cookies for snack time. 

Zucchini Lemon Cookies

I found this Betty Crocker recipe over at Mindika Moments. I made some changes to accommodate the the 3 Allergics. I replaced the butter with applesauce and oil.

I don't always bake a whole batch of cookie, so I like to take the dough, scoop them into balls then freeze them. The balls always maintain their shape. This dough is soft and sticky, so it didn't want to hold it's shape very well.  I just have to make sure to scoop them after they have sat in the fridge for a bit. 

The dough does spread, so be sure to leave more space between the cookie as you place them on the cookie sheet. 
3/4 C. soft butter or 1/2 cup apple sauce & 1/4 cup canola oil
1 ½ C. sugar 
2 eggs 
1 C. grated/pureed Zucchini 
1 C. chopped toasted pecans 
2 t. lemon zest 
1 t. salt 2 t. baking soda 
2 ½ C. all purpose flour 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
Lightly oil a cookie sheet, spray with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. 
Combine 
mix until they make a dough. 
Scoop dough onto the prepared cookie sheet in 1 inch balls. 
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand to cool for approximately 15 minutes.

I really need to improve my photos. This looks like any other cookie. 

When cool, drizzle with glaze. (see recipe below) 

GLAZE: 

2 C. powdered sugar 

juice of 1 lemon (1/4 C.) 

1 t. vanilla 

Mix all together. After cookies have cooled, drizzle the glaze on top of each cookie.

Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

It's that time of year for Girl Scout Cookies. We got our supply of Tagalongs, Samoas, and Thin Mints. Surprisingly, after a week we still have 1/2 of the boxes we ordered. This just is does not happen!! We gobble them up. I guess I should say I gobble them up, but if I have one then I share with everyone else. Unfortunately, I haven't been eating them. Cursed pregnancy-induced heartburn!!! Chocolate exacerbates it, so I've been avoiding the stuff. But I wanted some yummy delicious cookies! I've been meaning to try this recipe for awhile and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Ingredients

• 18 ounces of your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe - we use the recipe on the Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats lid, it's safe for the 3As : Awesome Oatmeal Cookies
• 1 egg
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Ensure oatmeal raisin cookie dough is at room temperature (about a 15 minute rest on the counter if using refrigerated dough).

Combine dough; flour and egg in large bowl; beat until well blended. Stir in cranberries and pistachios. Dough will be sticky. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake about 15 minutes or until edges are brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets. Remove to wire rack; cool completely.

Super Chocolatey Cookies

Most "chocolate" cookies are not very chocolatey. I believe the problem is that they are normally made from cocoa powder, which contains only chocolate solids. Cookies made from coca powder will not have any cocoa butter, which gives richness and savoriness that is sorely missed. These cookies have no cocoa powder at all - all the chocolate flavor comes from actual chocolate - 3 kinds in fact (semi-sweet, bittersweet, and unsweetened) - complete with the cocoa butter. The presence of all that fat makes these cookies quite fudgy - more like brownie bites than cookies. One important thing to note is that this cocoa butter will crystalize and become grainy if it cools too quickly. To prevent this, it is recommended that you let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet set on a cooling rack.

Ingredients

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (not chopped bittersweet bar chocolate - the texture won't be right - I prefer Ghiridelli's 60% cacao chips)
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature (put cold eggs in hot tap water for 2-3 minutes to warm them up)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Hershey's are good)

Directions

Create a chocolate melting rig by wrapping a small metal bowl with an electric heating pad and putting that in a large glass bowl. Put the unsweetened and bittersweet chocolate along with the butter in the metal bowl and turn the heating pad on high. Stir every few minutes until the chocolate is smooth and glossy, between 30 and 60 minutes. Remove metal bowl from heat and set aside to cool slightly. If you're in a rush, you can use a double boiler, but the heating pad is a lot less stress.

Beat eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer on medium-high until very thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Mix in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and mix in chocolate mixture until combined, 30-60 seconds.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a large, stiff rubber or silacone spatula, fold the flour mixture and semi-sweet chips into the chocolate-egg mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and let thicken for 20-30 minutes, until the batter looks like thick brownie batter or ganache.

Meanwhile, put the oven racks on the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and drop by heaping tablespoonfulls, 2 inches apart (I use a #60 disher). Bake until cookies are shiny and cracked on top, 11-14 minutes, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through the cooking time. Let cool completely on the baking sheets set on cooling racks before serving. Makes between 35 and 50 cookies, depending on how heavy you scoop the batter.

Ginger Snaps

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I can't. Alton Brown is the genius who figured this one out. The cardamom, clove, and ginger give the cookies an Indian spiciness that fills the whole house as they cook. There are 3 different kinds of ginger in these cookies: fresh, ground, and candied. Each adds a distinctive flavor - spicy, savory, and sweet. I would highly recommend using homemade candied ginger as it has a depth of flavor not found in store-bought (even if it is a little labor-intensive to make).

Ingredients

• 9 1/2 ounces (by weight) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 7 ounces (by weight) dark brown sugar
• 5 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 3 ounces (by weight) molasses
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 4 ounces (by weight) finely chopped candied ginger

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cardamom, clove, and salt.

Beat the brown sugar and butter in a mixer on low speed for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg, and fresh ginger and increase speed to medium, mix for 1 more minute. Turn off the mixer and remove the bowl. Add the candiedginger and stir to combine using a rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and thoroughly mix with the rubber spatula, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a small (2 teaspoon) scoop, drop the cookies 2 inches apart and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 12 minutes (for chewier cookies), up to 15 minutes (for crispy cookies). Rotate the pan 180 degrees halfway through cooking.

When the time is up, remove the pan from the oven. Let the cookies cool for 30 seconds on the pan before sliding the parchment (with the cookies) off the pan onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough, refrigerating between batches (you may have to slightly increase cooking time with the cold batter). Store in an airtight container for up to 10 days - not that they'll actually last that long!

Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies

I found this recipe on the Internet the other day, posted by an Allrecipes.com user named "Michele." I don't know who you are, but your cookies are amazing!

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain or butter-flavored shortening
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl (or stand mixer) cream together shortening, white and brown sugar, and peanut butter. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Add the oats and stir until they're evenly distributed.
Drop by tablespoons (I use a #60 disher) onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until just light brown (don't over-bake). Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and move to a wire rack until completely cool. Store in an airtight container.