Lemon Cake Mix Snickerdoodles

Well, this recipe isn't from one of my mom's cookbooks - although I can't say for sure,  a few of the cookbooks do include a lot of prepackaged food recipes, and housewives of that time were no doubt looking for some way to spice up that plain old can of peas, but this isn't about peas, it's about making simple cookies. Simple soft yummy cookies!

I wanted to try this recipe for quite a while and this turned out to be the day. I had to work the 2am shift for two nights so it completely messes up my system since I'm not all geared up for it. I didn't have the motivation for anything with more than a few ingredients and wanted minimal cleanup.

You can find this recipe all over the web; the only difference is in the brand of cake mix they tell you to use.  The recipe doesn't call for vanilla, but I added a teaspoon anyways.

I had a No Name brand Lemon Cake mix so I decided to use that. Yes, No Name is an in-store brand name in Canada :) I lived in a town once that sold Beer beer too :)

Basically you get all the ingredients together and combine the sugar and cinnamon separately.  

Combine the cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of oil and 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture in large bowl. Mix until well blended. The batter will be really soft, but not sticky. It's easy to roll in your hands, but hard to make a perfect ball shape, but that's ok, the cookie dough will get flattened slightly.

Roll into 1 - 1.5" dough balls and then roll in reserved sugar-cinnamon mixture to coat.

Place on parchment covered (or greased) cookie sheet about 2" apart. Gently press down on the cookie with the bottom of a glass.

Bake for 8 - 9 minutes in a 375 F oven.  ENJOY! 

Lemon Cake Mix Snickerdoodles

INGREDIENTS

• 3 Tbsp. sugar 
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon  
• 1 package Yellow cake mix (or whatever kind you want....like Lemon or Chocolate)  
• 2 large eggs  
• ¼ cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease baking sheets. 
2. Blend sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside. 
3. Combine cake mix, eggs, oil and 1 tablespoon cinnamon-sugar mixture in large bowl with wooden spoon until blended.
4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Place 2-inches apart on prepared pans. If desired, flatten balls with bottom of a glass. 
5. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool cookies 1 minute on pan. Cool completely on wire rack. 
6. Baking Tip: Use a 1 to 1-1/4-inch scoop to form dough into balls. For best results, bake one baking sheet at a time. If baking two sheets together, rotate pans halfway through baking.

Thimble cookies

I don't know where the time goes, but it goes by pretty darn fast. One day I'm thinking it's Monday...I have the whole week ahead of me and in a blink it's Thursday and I haven't done half of what I want to and even less of what I need to do before Friday because Saturdays are ME days and laundry and all other things wait!  I wish days were longer....yup even Mondays :)

 

Being all belated on this post, I figure I'd at least explain what has sucked up some of my attention -  besides re-watching Torchwood, that is. I spent some time crocheting a couple headbands, a doggie jacket for my mom's dog, Chico - who is the sweetest little guy, and an owl hat.  I like doing other things while watching tv, it's like it doesn't count if I'm doing stuff since I have something to show for it at the end.

But on to the cookies - which I forgot to take a picture of when they were completely finished and I had drizzled with melted white chocolate. Sorry!

When I was here, visiting my mom a year ago, I wrote down her recipe for Thimble cookies. Since I had some homemade Blueberry-Cherry jam that I made this summer, I figured I'd put it to good use.  The cookies taste really good and they are easy to make, but I think the recipe is off somewhat in that it seems like the baking time is way too long and the dough isn't firm enough to hold up to longer baking times with the lower cooking temperature - they spread way to much - I even left the rolled dough balls in the fridge to firm up.


I'm going to skip all the gather ingredients and mix up the cookie pictures. The recipe is pretty simple to follow along.  So....wow, that sure made the mixing the dough steps go by quick! ;)

Once you have your dough all nicely mixed up, roll the dough into balls. Mine were 1 level tablespoon.  It's just easier to have them ready.

Gather up some coconut and/or crushed almonds, and beat the egg white. hahah, that was one bad egg!

Now, I can tell you this and I'm sure for a billion people this is simple, but my brain does not like to play nice with my hands.  The simple basic idea is one wet hand - one dry hand.

With one hand (the wet) you drop the dough into the egg white and then ONTO the coconut or almonds.

With the other hand (dry hand) you roll the cookies in the coconut or almonds and then put them on the cookie sheet.

See those cookies...yup, that dozen right below...I had to wash my hands 6 times...SIX TIMES so I wouldn't get coconut or almonds in the egg white. Every second freakin cookie I used the wet hand in the dry ingredients or dry in the wet.  Even telling myself 'pay attention' I couldn't do it!

My brain is not connected to my hands!

I did get them done, as you can see, and then decided I needed therapy to get over my obsessiveness with having coconut or almonds in the egg whites :)

The first batch I made, I used the top of an extract bottle to make the indent and then following the recipe, I baked the cookies for 15 minutes, pulled them out of the oven to indent again...and I was disappointed :(   The cookies spread - a lot.

I used two spoons and mooshed them back in to shape. Yup, it's a technical cooking term..I've used it before, so it makes it real :)  Indented again, and baked for another 10 minutes...watching them spread the entire time. *sigh* I removed them from the oven and filled them with jam.

It was NOT the picture perfect cute rounded jam filled little cookies I've seen before.  *another sigh*

The second batch had longer fridge time before putting in the oven. For this dozen I used a teaspoon for the indent - definitely my favorite of the two methods.

Again, I baked them for 15 minutes, pulled them from the oven,  mooshed them back together and indented again, where needed ..but this time I put the jam in so that it would bake too..and a white chocolate chip. I prefer doing it this way too. The jam thickens a bit and makes it easier for storing.

I shortened the cooking time of the second baking bit for this batch. 15 minutes is way too long and I'd probably even say 10 minutes is too much also.

Pulled from the oven, I mooshed them together again.   Sorry, this is where the cookie pictures end...so..here are some lights on my tree - with my favorite heart ornament :)

Once the cookies cooled, I drizzled white chocolate over the tops. Yum.  Although I think they were a bit over baked, they were good. They had a bit of a crunch to them with a softer inside.

I would make these again and play around a bit more with the temperature and baking times. I don't think any 'mistakes' would make terrible tasting cookies.


Moms Thimble Cookies
As written

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup of coconut or almonds (finely chopped)
• Jam

DIRECTIONS

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Beat in egg yolk
3. Stir in rest of ingredients and mix well.
4. Shape into balls
5. Make indent with thimble
6. Dip in egg white and roll in the coconut or nuts
7. Bake 325 F for 15 minutes
8. Indent again
9. Bake 10 - 15 mins more
10. Fill with Jam
11. Let cool

Hermit Cookies

"Soft, fruity, spice-flavoured drops"

It's been a busy few weeks so I haven't been able to post. Well, that's not entirely true...while I don't own a smart phone, I'm never very far from internet service...but I was busy! I baked cookies 2 weeks ago, for Halloween, but the recipe didn't come from any of my mom's cookbooks. I had made more Jack cookies.  And well, I moved again... this time in to a condo in the same building as my mom. The landlord was nice and didn't make me sign a lease. So that's handy! But...what I found out with all the moving of stuff is that I lost my (one and only and favorite) aluminum baking sheet, so the cookies I made last night were made in cake tins :) Took a bit longer being only able to bake 6 at a time, but it wasn't all a waste since I watched a couple episodes of Person of Interest.

I gathered up the ingredients while Reese and Carter were trying to make their way to FBI headquarters with Quinn. Lots of gunfire with HR chasing them down.

With the sound of explosions and gunshots, I mixed the butter and shortening together and then added in the brown sugar, blending until smooth. Once done, I mixed in the 3 beaten eggs.

Reese and Carter made it to the NYC Morgue! Hahaha, great place to store a guy for a short time.  I would of thought the morgue vaults were sealed better so smell didn't leak out - which would make it harder to breathe...but I'm thinking I'll only get a chance to see the inside of one once and I won't be alive to talk about it.

I added in the flour and then stirred in the nuts. I just love how nuts and raisins (and other things too!) look sprinkled over cookie batter all waiting and ready to be mixed in :) It's the small things that make me happy.

Reese kissing Carter doesn't make me very happy.  Romances always work better in TV shows when you are always waiting. Once a couple gets together part of the fun goes out of the show.  Thankfully, my little issue with that romance was taken care of in this episode too! Oddly, I'd really like to see Reese with Shaw, I think that romance could actually be fun and not kill the show. Sorry to see Carter go. Hahah, this isn't a spoiler, I'm quite a few episodes behind.

OK, back to the cookies!  The dough had to chill for 1/2 hr to an hour, so I watched some more Person of Interest while I cleaned up the dishes.

Preheated the oven to 375 F and used a scoop to measure the batter. I'm too lazy to use two teaspoons like they suggest.  The directions say to bake them on a greased cookie sheet, but I found they are greasy enough and do not need anything extra.

Overall the cookies are pretty good. The chopped dates seem to melt, so you only really bite down on the raisins and nuts.  They were soft and yummy.

I don't know if I would make this recipe again. I'm not sure if it was me or the recipe, but I guess I expected them to be more puffy and not as flat. Sorry cookie...hahah, my reason for not making you again is not your taste, but how you look. I'm shallow as all that!

Hermit Cookies
Robin Hood Flour Prize Winning Recipes - 1947 (pg 86)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1/2 cup soft shortening
• 1 cup seedless raisins
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 2 cups sifted ROBIN HOOD FLOUR
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS

1. Measure butter and shortening into mixing bowl. Wash and dry raisins, chop dates and nuts. Measure and combine.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices. Cream softened butter and shortening until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, mixing until creamy. Add beaten eggs and combine thoroughly. Add dry ingredients and fruits and nuts. Mix well. Chill dough 1/2 to 1 hour.
3. Drop chilled dough from teaspoon, 1 inch apart, on greased cookie sheets.
4. Bake 375 F (Moderately hot oven) for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cookies from pan. Place on wire cake rack to cool.

YIELD: 4-5 dozen cookies.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig!

Back home again after visiting the family. It was a great vacation. I spent time visiting friends and family....and a LOT of cooking and baking.  Sadly, the drive back through the parks was almost as miserable weather wise as going there, but I snapped a picture anyways :)

While visiting, I made all my goto's, Peanut Butter cookies, Ginger cookies, Iced pumpkin cookies, Nanaimo bars (Nanaimo is a city in British Columbia), and more of the yummiest Carrot cake ever that I made 2 weeks ago. Half I left for my daughter and the other half I froze for a friend of mine.

I also did a lot of cooking (homemade Pizza, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Shepherds pie ...well Cottage pie actually since it was made with hamburger, and Chicken Pot Pie). I think I gained 10 lbs!  but that is ok, my friend and I are going to be accountable to each other for losing weight...or at least behaving :)

While I was in the big city of Prince George (75,000 people), I stopped in at a used book store called The Final Chapter. It's a great store and the gentleman who works there (owner?) is very friendly and helpful. I highly recommend checking it out if you are looking for something to read. Downtown is somewhat ugly and in need of some tender loving care, but hopefully that will change soon, but unless folks go shopping down there - it won't revitalize...ok, enough about inner-city politics. The kids each picked out a book for themselves - Percy Jackson and a Halo novel, respectively, while I found myself a nice very well preserved copy of a 1950 shortening recipe booklet by Jewel Shortening. I've never even heard of them, but they are Canadian. The recipes listed sound delicious and I want to make everything!  Yay Canada!

I love these brand cook books. The recipes all seem tried, tested,  and published proudly by the company. The recipes were meant to represent the company and promote brand loyalty, they wouldn't fill it with recipes that did not do the company proud,  unlike a lot of cookbooks nowadays where it seems like they dumped in a bunch of untested recipes just to fill the books and make sales.

I think the older Purity, Five Roses, and Robin Hood cookbooks I have try their best to have great recipes, where as the Culinary Arts and American Woman's cookbook have some questionable recipes, but I think the objective of those 2 books are to be encyclopedic in nature and cover everything they possibly can.  That being said, up next are Brownies from The Culinary Arts Institute Cook Book from the 1950's.

Cya then!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies For My Mom

This is one of my mom's favourite cookies. It's not written in her scribblers because she's only known about them for a short while and she can't cook for herself now, so I make them when I visit.

Before I came for my 'visit' (wasn't she shocked to find out I'm staying indefinitely!) she mentioned she had bought more canned pumpkin for the cookies. So, I'm making her cookies today!

She recently had a stroke (I believe we found out around Ignace, Ontario - during our drive across Canada) and is in the hospital, so I made them this morning and brought some in for her. She had one with her lunch, I think it made her happy.

The recipe is from Allrecipes and has great reviews.  There isn't much I change when making it, except putting the dough in the fridge to stiffen up and using a simplified version of the glaze.

Usually, I roll them in to balls, which gives the cookies a smooth surface, but this time I used a cookie scoop since I didn't want to let the dough rest in the fridge.  You know...things to do, places to be :)

I realized after taking the picture that I had grabbed cake flour!

Combine 2.5 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Once done, beat in the pumpkin.

Add in the egg and vanilla

Beat until fluffy. At this point you can chill in the fridge if you want to hand roll into balls, or just move along if using a cookie scoop :)

Place on cookie sheet and bake 15-20 mins in a 350 F oven. 

You can see these are 'rough' and not hand rolled smooth.

Once baked, let cool and then drizzle with glaze. haha, sorry I got side tracked and stopped taking pictures until they were already drizzled!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Gina - Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

COOKIES

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

GLAZE

• 1 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• cinnamon (optional, but yummy addition!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F . 
2. Combine dry ingredients
3. Cream together the butter and sugar. 
4. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. 
5. Mix in dry ingredients. 
6. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls
7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes
8. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
9. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, water, and vanilla and then drizzle over cookies with a spoon or fork.

Makes about 3 dozen.