recipes

You may have seen my rhubarb apple crisp in the past.   It’s a bit of a favourite around here.   Of course I drive the boys a bit batty as I’m quite happy to try out different recipes even if we have one that we like.  🙂

Ingredients and Directions:

Preheat oven to 350C

Mix together and let set a spell (about five minutes or so). Stir, and then let set until you have the topping made.
6 cups sliced fresh rhubarb
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tbsp water

Mix together the following.
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold, cubed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Place rhubarb mix in the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.
Bake at 350 for about an hour, you want it to be bubbling around all edges. Mine cooked about 55 minutes.

Serve warm with ice cream or cool completely before serving.

Our Thoughts:

Son: I like it!
Dad: Hmm… something is off with this one.
Mom: Tastes best heated up, ice cream is an excellent addition.

Next one I make I’ll go back to our original recipe.  well..maybe… I might try another new one.  🙂

Ingredients:

1⁄2 cup butter
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1⁄2 cup peanut butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (or more)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon salt

1/2 c butterscotch chips
1/2 c chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

This recipe is super easy to make.  

Mix all the dry ingredients together (sans the chips).  Let sit in a separate bowl.

I simply take a mixer and mix the butter and sugars together.  Then add the PB, egg and vanilla to that.  Mix it well.   To that had the dry ingredients.  Then add the chips.  Mix well.  

Drop onto a cookie sheet (or if you care to roll into balls) but seriously why make more work for yourself?

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes on sheet.  Or if you use silicone sheets, slide that sheet off the pan, put on a new sheet and make the next batch. By the time they are done, the first batch will be cooled down and you’ll have a boy stealing them off the sheet.  🙂

If you want a simple cookie that a child can easily make…. try Cow Pies.

They are so infinitely variable they are a breeze to make.

Start with 2 cups chocolate chips and 1 tbsp. shortening. 

Melt them in your microwave.   Slowly.. don’t rush it.  Takes me about 4 minutes to melt them down.

Tonight I added (these are very rough estimates). 

1/2 cup craisins  (cranberry raisins)
1/4 cup walnut bits
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 cup of rice krispies.

Mix it altogether until everything is coated with chocolate.
Drop by spoonfuls on a piece of parchment paper/wax paper

Let the chocolate set. You can leave them out if your kitchen is cool or stick them in your fridge or freezer to set quickly.

Then you enjoy them. 🙂  If putting in a container to store, layer with parchment paper in-between (I just tear up what I used to chill them on).   If your house is warm they keep best in the fridge. 

In the past I’ve done them with slivered almonds and raisins.  The really small marshmallow bits with toffee pieces.  Cooking gummies.  What else… reese pieces, Cheerios, pretzel pieces.  So play around, see what you have in your kitchen and go on from there. When I do them with kids (especially multiple kids) I have a variety of toppings and they each get about 1/2 cup of melted chocolate to play with. Put their name on the parchment paper and let them go to it. 

 

The other day I finagled my hubby into helping me make a cookie that I grew up with, My Mom’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies .  I remember making and eating these cookies with my brothers and sisters.   It brought back memories of laughter and conversation.  🙂   I was so pleased hubby let me finagle him, as I enjoy baking with him in an unhurried environment and I’ve kinda missed him this week as he’s been working a bit again.  Woot woot!

Anyways, this is the only oatmeal chocolate chip recipe that uses milk that I have ever found, if you know of another let me know and I’ll give it a whirl too.  It adds a bit of a creamy texture which makes a nice cookie.

Ingredients and Directions

Cream together

 1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar

Add in order: (At this point, I use a mixer until I add the oatmeal, then I mix by hand)
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
4 cups quick oatmeal
6 oz chocolate chips

Drop by small spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.
Do leave room for them to spread. If you want them to spread less, chill the dough for while before baking.
Whenever I make them I get between 70-75 cookies. They do store decently but be prepared for them to be quickly devoured.

Bake for 9-12 minutes at 350. Depends on your oven and how you like your cookies. I prefer them to be somewhat brown on the edges and somewhat chewy in the centre, so I usually cook for 9-10. If my pan is still warm I bake for just shy of 9.

For this Honey Whole Wheat Bread I used Mrs. Carrigans recipe as inspiration.  This is the first 100% whole wheat loaf I ever made.  The taste is lovely.  The honey was an excellent addition to the sweetness of the loaf.  The lad likes it a fair bit and told me I should make it again. 

Ingredients

2 cup warm water
1/2 cup honey
5 teaspoons active dry yeast
4 tablespoons butter melted 
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Mix water, honey, yeast and 1 cup of flour together.  Add butter.  Mix well.

Add 1 cup flour along with salt, mix well.

Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time.  You might need more than four cups total.

Knead well, let rise until doubled in an oiled bowl.

Knead it again, you want the bread nice and smooth.

Place in bread pans, let it rise until higher than pan sides (at least 1/2 inch).

Bake in a 350 oven about 1/2 hour.

Enjoy hot bread with creamed honey on the top… Simply YUMMY!!!!!  🙂

NOTE: the original recipe called for some bread flour which I didn’t have, so my loaf came out a bit flat.  I needed to knead it more than I did.  So either make it with some bread flour (so about 1/2 and 1/2) or knead it a LONG time (longer than 8 minutes).   

Other breads made:

Simple Whole Wheat Bread.
Braided Easter Bread. 
Italian Bread. 
Multi-grain Bread. 
Sandwich Bread.

 

 

These have got to be easiest peanut butter cookies I have ever made.  I don’t know if I’ll be eating them again as hubby said “I might as well be eating peanut butter out of the jar.”   🙂

Three ingredients, mix them together and you have cookies (after you bake them of course).

1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 large Egg

Mix them.

Put them in the tray in dollops about 1.5 tbsp. measures with some good space between.

Press down with a fork to make a cross hatch pattern so typical for peanut butter cookies.

Cook for 12-14 minutes at 325.

HIDE THEM!

If you don’t ….a 12 year boy will scarf them down before you know you even made them. And hubby dearest won’t be far behind him…..

My Favourite cookie: Cinnamon Lemon

Best Christmas Cookie: Papernauten.