Hello friends! I don’t know what plans you have this weekend, but tomorrow I am BAKING! I have not – ever – had a marathon baking day that I can remember, but tomorrow is THE DAY! I have 4 different cookies I want to make, and I want to bake as many as I possibly can, because I have a lot of people I want to give them out to this year! That is one thing I am enjoying (I think) as we have moved back to the small town we partially grew up in and we married in – we know a whole lot more people, even the folks who work at the businesses we frequent! Small town living at its sweetest, I suppose.
Anyway, I have not done a giveaway in quite a while… SOOOO – all next week, Monday through Friday, I will be giving away a copy of My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife each day. Monday through Thursday I will share one of the recipes I baked this weekend, and on Friday, well, I’m not sure what I’ll do yet. We’ll see what inspiring thing develops.
The way you can enter to win is by sharing your own favorite Christmas cookie recipes and baking moments this holiday season, either by commenting here or linking to a post on your own blog. Think of it as one BIG VIRTUAL COOKIE SWAP! WITHOUT THE CALORIES! (Um, kinda – except if you bake any of the yummy ideas… well, you are solely responsible for any calorie additions.) You can enter for the giveaway daily but please enter only once per day. And if you already have the book, and you win, you can always give it to a friend (but I cannot guarantee you will get it before Christmas.) I’m taking a blog break the week between Christmas and New Year’s but we’ll get started back in January with the Proverbs 31 Challenges!
I’ve seen from some of the Pinterest comments recently that a few of you are considering attempting to do the experiment for a whole year like I did – I would LOVE to hear from you if you are (and do)! Let’s make 2012 the year we focus on God and focus on our families!
Have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday!
PS If you’re in the Indiana/Michigan/Ohio area, on Monday, I’m visiting LIVE with Lynn at WCBL 90.3 at 9:15 a.m. (CST). Hope you’ll tune in!
Sara
Mary Lynn’s Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
(Tried and tested for over 25 years by nieces, nephews, children, teachers, even Shepherd Smith and Jane Skinner on FOX News lol!)
Ingredients
2 ~1/2 sticks unsalted butter,
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large eggs well beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 cups rolled oats (We use Quaker Quick or Old Fashioned. Do NOT use instant.)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2 In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, Beat in egg Add vanilla.
3 Mix flour, salt, baking soda, Stir dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture.Stir in oats. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts
4 Spoon out dough by large tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.
5 Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 10-minutes. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets. Then carefully remove them, using a metal spatula, to a wire rack. Cool
(Tip: I refrigerate my dough for at least an hour or more, to keep them from spreading out too much, and also make sure you don’t cook longer than 10 minutes, as they may not look done, but will be fine once they cool some. (though good hot and fresh to us)
I found your site through Pinterest and would love to read your book! I love baking during the holidays and these Butterscotch Gingerbread cookies are one of our favorites:
http://vanessasvalues.blogspot.com/2011/11/recipe-butterscotch-gingerbread-cookies.html
I don’t think we’ll ever go back to plain old gingerbread cookies.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
The only cookies I make anymore are cake mix cookies! They are so easy and versatile & they ship well overseas. I didn’t come up with the recipe, but I have come up with some awesome Christmas variations.
All you need is:
1 box of cake mix (any flavor)
1/2 Cup oil (I use olive oil so I feel less guilty eating them, and you can’t taste the oil)
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients to form a stiff dough. Roll dough into balls (about the size of a ping pong ball), and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet. The middles will be soft. For shipping overseas, cook for a few minutes longer.
Best Varieties:
Snickerdoodle – use White cake mix & roll balls in cinnamon sugar before baking
Cranberry-Orange – use Yellow cake mix & add craisins, orange zest, a squeeze of juice from the orange, and pecans
There are lots of yummy Christmas baking chips that are delicious added to cake mix cookies. I like the chocolate mint and the peppermint variety added to chocolate cake mix.