Favorite Sugar Cookies

Dominic has been asking me lately to make "cookies with a few sprinkles."  I've been thinking of making sugar cookies for a while now, so I dug way back in my archives for my favorite sugar cookie recipe.  I know that I've been making these cookies since at least 1976, because I know that I sprinkled red, white and blue sprinkled sugar on these for the Bicentennial.  I can also remember that I wore a pair of overalls a lot that year that were very patriotic (I think they had liberty bells all over them), but I'll spare you all the picture of that!! You don't need fancy cookie cutters to make these - just use the bottom of a drinking glass :)  I had some leftover vanilla frosting from some brownie cake that I made last week, so I used some of the frosting on the cookies. Feel free to skip the frosting if desired.  I think Dominic was very happy that "cookies with a few sprinkles" finally made it onto the "menu" this week!!

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup margarine (softened)
1 large egg
3 cups white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In large bowl mix sugar, margarine and egg with electric mixer or by hand with large spoon. When well combined, add the remaining ingredients and mix together well.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight.  Remove from fridge and with the palms of your hands roll into medium-sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  In separate bowl, put two tablespoons of white sugar.  Dip the bottom of a small glass in the sugar, then press down on cookie. If you want, you can add sprinkles also at this point.  Bake for 15 minutes or until slightly brown.  Let cool 3-5 minutes on cookie sheet, remove to wire rack to continue cooling.  Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.

Zucchini and Potato Soup

In the "reduced for quick sale" area in the grocery store last week,  I bought a big package of zucchini very cheap.  After looking at it on my counter for a few days, I decided I better hurry up and figure out what to do with it pretty quick.  I came up with a couple of ideas.  Muffins? Soup? Roasted? Steamed?  I decided on soup :)

We eat soup year round in our house.  The more I experiment with soups, I've come to realize you can make soup out of just about any combination of vegetables and meats and it will taste good.  I love that I control what goes in the soup (amount of salt, etc.).  You can make this soup with or without the smoked sausage.  I made it with, but if you want to go totally vegetarian, skip the sausage.  If you like a spicier soup, you can use a spicy sausage and/or add hot sauce to taste. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cups zucchini, peeled and chopped
2 cups potatoes, peeled and chopped
14.5 ounce can fired roasted diced tomatoes (undrained)
6 smoked sausages, chopped
10 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In large stockpot, melt the two tablespoons of margarine.  Add the onion and celery and saute slowly until they start to become tender.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer on low-medium heat, covered for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables become soft, stirring occasionally.  Serves 4-6.

Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Oat Candy

The weather where I live can't seem to make up it's mind. It switches back and forth between cool and hot.  This week it's been pretty toasty during the day.  When it's warm inside the house as well as the outside, I would rather not turn on the oven to bake. So, when the urge to make something sweet hit today, I made this candy.  I have never used a candy thermometer (too confusing with all the different markings - soft ball, hard ball, etc.).  You can make this candy without one of those, because the only "cooking" you do is a quick two minutes on the stove.  To make it a little more fancy (and portable), I used a cupcake tin with the liners.

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups old fashioned oats

In saucepan put margarine, sugar, milk and cocoa.  Bring to a boil slowly, stirring constantly.  Once it comes to a rolling boil, stir occasionally for two minutes.  Remove from heat and carefully pour mixture into large bowl.  Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and stir until creamy.  Last, add the oats, one cup at time.  Stir until well combined and pour evenly into cupcake tins.  If you prefer not to use the cupcake tins, you can drop by tablespoonfuls or teaspoonfuls on a cookie sheet covered with waxed paper.   Put in refrigerator at least one hour until the candy gets hard.  These have to be stored in the fridge and will stay good up to two weeks :)

Homemade Double Chocolate Brownies

One of my favorite desserts to make for my family is boxed brownies.  I like to wait until they go on sale, use coupons and stockpile them in my pantry :) Today seemed like a good day to bake something chocolate (isn't everyday a good day for that)? These are "double" chocolate because I used cocoa and semi-sweet chocolate morsels.  Making these brownies from "scratch" take just a few extra minutes to prepare than boxed brownies (I promise)!!!
 

 
Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened powdered cocoa
3/4 cup white flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a            9 x 9 inch square pan with cooking spray.  Put all ingredients in the order above into a large bowl and mix well by hand until all ingredients are well combined.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool on rack about 1/2 hour.

If desired, you can use powdered sugar for decoration on the top of  the brownies.  Here's a dual duty tip - since the holes on a salt shaker are small, it seemed like the perfect size to use to sprinkle powdered sugar. Somehow,  I ended up with two extra salt shakers and no pepper shaker in my cupboard (not sure how that one happened). I filled one of the extra shakers up with about a third of the powdered sugar and then sprinkled the top of the brownies. You can certainly leave the brownies plain if you want and/or add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream :)

Dad's Biscuits

I was lucky enough to find in my vast collection of recipes, my great-grandfather's biscuit recipe from August 1959.  It was on a typed index card with the title, "Dad's Biscuits."  The "dad" being my grandmother's father on my mom's side of the family.  He owned a bakery at one time in Missouri.  I guess that's where I get my love of baking from, it's in the "genes." I made these this morning and Dominic and I did a little taste "test."  I asked Dominic what he thought of the biscuits and he said, "good!"  I did change the measurements slightly, the original recipe used one teaspoon of salt, I cut it down to 1/4 teaspoon.  Also, there was no measurement for the amount of milk, the recipe said, "add enough milk to make medium workable dough for rolling."  I found that 3/4 of a cup of milk was "workable."  I  have a small collection of biscuit cutters and decided on the littlest one. I don't remember where I got that biscuit cutter from, but I'm pretty sure it's older than me :) I was able to make 20 biscuits out of the dough.  Depending on what size biscuit cutter you use, you will be able to get more or less than that.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease cookie sheet with baking spray.  In large bowl, put all ingredients together and mix well with spoon.  On flat surface, sprinkle one tablespoon of flour.  Take dough mixture and knead about 20 times (don't over knead the dough or the biscuits will be tough). Flatten with hands to get to desired thickness and use biscuit cutter.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top.

*September is right around the corner and it is National Biscuit Month!!

Crispy Rice Treats

Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats have been around since the early 1940's.  They are super easy and quick to make at home (only three ingredients).  You can even buy them individually packaged at the grocery store. They are definitely not low calorie, but they are fun to have once in a while :)  I used the "house" brand of marshmallows and crispy rice cereal that Kroger makes.  I also used the crispy rice treat recipe on the back of  the bag of marshmallows.  The only difference between the Kellogg's version and the Kroger version is the Kroger version uses one additional tablespoon of margarine/butter.  You can use margarine instead of butter, but my feeling is that it's not like you eat these every day, so why not splurge a little?!?! A while back I had bought a container of 100 cookie cutters from Bed Bath and Beyond (I think because I had a coupon) and I recently found them again in our basement.

I decided to get a little creative and made some of the treats into the below shapes.  It was a little sticky making them, but isn't that half the fun??  You can get the kids involved making these because they are so easy to make.  I enlisted Dominic to help me :)

 Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 package (10 ounces) marshmallows (any brand)
6 cups crispy rice cereal (any brand)

Melt butter or margarine slowly in a large saucepan.  Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in the cereal until it is completely coated.  Pour into lightly greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.  Press the mixture evenly into the pan.  Let cool slightly.  Cut into squares or desired shapes.  Store at room temperature covered for no more than two days.   They start losing their freshness pretty fast, that's why their "shelf" life is so short!! If your family can't eat them within a few days, I'm sure your co-workers, friends or neighbors would be happy to "help" you out!  You could even whip them up for a new mom :)

Carrot Muffins

My favorite grocery store was selling three pounds of carrots for a $1.00 this week.  I usually buy the shortcut carrots when they are 10 for $10.00, but decided since it was such a good deal, I would buy the three pound bag. Once I got them home, I was thinking of different ways to use them.  The first thing that came to mind was to whip up some carrot muffins, since we were all out of breakfast "bakery."  While grating the carrots for the muffins, I was wondering why it was taking so long.  After I got to the end of the second out of four carrots, I realized I had the grater upside down :)  Once I got that "issue" figured out, it made the grating go much faster!!  Usually when I'm all done grating the carrots, I toss the remaining bits of carrots that are leftover into a bag and put in the fridge for a snack for later.  This time I put them in a sealed bag and tossed them into the freezer.  I'm working on a recipe for Carrot Pumpkin Soup and thought they could be used later on!!

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups peeled and finely grated carrots
2 large eggs
2/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2  teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and fill a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.  In large bowl, put all ingredients in the order given.  Using a large spoon, mix until well combined.  Distribute batter evenly and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins comes out clean.  Cool for 5-10 minutes in tin and then remove to baking rack to finish cooling.