Cookies – Page 2 – Long Distance Baking

This weekend was a windows open, music up, it’s-beginning-to-feel-a-lot-like-spring-time weekend. To me…those kind of weekends require cookies. Sometimes you want an easy recipe, one that doesn’t require a lot of time or energy. Or much thinking. Or dishes. These are the cookies for that time.…

Well, the holidays are officially over. And I’m pretty upset about it. We didn’t get a white Christmas (yet drove 6 hours through the snow…), I had to defrost my car from freezing rain yesterday, and to make matters worse? No more holiday Starbucks cups. The…

It just wouldn’t be the holiday season without excessive amounts of cookies, am I right?? My first big holiday baking day included these cookies. Kelly and I have been waiting a year to participate in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap…we couldn’t wait to get matched up with other bloggers and get started!

The FB Cookie Swap is in it’s fourth year and is hosted by Julie at The Little Kitchen and Lindsay at Love and Olive Oil. The official partner of this year’s swap was Cookies for Kid’s Cancer and each participating blogger made a donation during the sign up process. We raised over $12,000!! Way to go guys!

Next we were given the names of three other bloggers and sent them each a dozen cookies. I wanted to make something festive, but not too traditional (just in case their other matches had the same idea). White chocolate always seems to be forgotten about (at least in my house) so I thought I would give them some attention. I love the cranberries for an extra pop of color and a tartness to counteract the sweetness of the chocolate. Let’s just say it’s a good thing I had to give these cookies away!

My mom had given me a huge assortment of cookie packaging and bakeware as part of my birthday gift; it was so fun packaging up these cookies! It really makes it so much more special when you are baking for someone else. My matches were Carrie at Diet Deep Dish, Diana at Life Off The Clock, and Michelle at My California Kitchen. I loved the fact my matches were other bloggers I didn’t know. It was a great way to discover new blogs and friends!

The cookies I recieved were White Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Cookies from Chocolate and Marrow, Double Chocolate Chocolate Cookies from Sarah Cooks the Books and a mystery batch of Chocolate Biscotti!

These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are a simple twist on my White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies and are super easy to whip up. Which is always handy in case you have a cookie swap of your own or need some treats for a holiday party and procrastinate until the last minute. No judgement here 😉 Kelly made Danish Butter Cookies, but rumor has it they were so good she ate them all before getting pictures. Recipe coming soon!

Thank you Julie and Lindsay for hosting the cookie swap and can’t wait to participate again next year!

~Stephanie

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 c shortening
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 c white chocolate chips
1 dried cranberries

Mix together flour, soda and salt. Set aside.
Cream sugars and shortening. Mix in egg and vanilla until combined.
Slowly add dry ingredients.
Stir in white chocolate chips and cranberries by hand.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on baking sheet.
Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes, until just turning golden brown.

Guys, my mom made cookies last night. And guess what, they were really good! She called it miraculous. This post was supposed to be homemade hot cocoa (coming next week now) but Bunsy has been on a chocolate chip cookie kick lately and wanted to…

It’s been just over one week since Halloween. Here’s the moment of truth: how much candy do you have leftover? Did you have so many trick-or-treaters you ran out? Did you take the extras to work or share with someone else? Maybe the candy was…

It’s funny, but I don’t remember my grandma baking cookies. Like…ever.

I remember her making homemade tortillas without a recipe. I remember her teaching me to add sugar to my “healthy” cereals to make them taste better. I remember her house always had nuts and we would have so much fun using the nutcracker to open them. But I do not remember cookies.

When I was visiting my family last week my mom asked if I was going to make Grandma’s pumpkin cookies this fall. I looked at her and said “Huh? ” I mean, I know I have a recipe for pumpkin cookies. And yes, I have it handwritten from my mother. But…these are Grandma’s cookies? How did I not know that?!

We don’t get to see my grandma very often, maybe once a year or so, and it’s always a little bittersweet. Her memory is going and it can be hard for everyone. She’s always remembered my sister and I when we visit, but that’s not always the case with the other cousins. We often end up having the same conversation over and over again, and I think she asks me if I have a boyfriend on average 12 million times. It’s always funny the things she holds on to though. Last time it was the rip in my jeans: “Can’t your mother afford clothes that don’t have holes in them?!” Or Dad’s hair that was longer than normal: “Did you get a perm??”

These pumpkin chocolate chip cookies have always been a fall favorite of mine, but now that I know the recipe comes from Grandma? They’re even more special. I’m headed to Salt Lake City this weekend and am hoping I’ll get to stop in and see her. Maybe I’ll bring some cookies to share with her too and we can talk about how I’m still too young to date.

~Stephanie

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Grandma Lujan)

2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 c shortening
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c canned pumpkin
1 c chocolate chips (or raisins, walnuts, etc.)

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
Cream shortening and add sugar, beating until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, then add pumpkin. Mix until combined.
Slowly add in dry ingredients.
By hand, stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
Bake 12-15 minutes at 350

I love dessert but I don’t usually eat candy. I’ll get Junior Mints at the movies and occasionally I’ll crave a Snicker’s or a Reese’s Fastbreak or just a plain Reese’s. But if I had to choose one candy to snack on, I’d choose M&Ms.…

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I know what you’re thinking, “Didn’t Kelly just make oatmeal cookies?” You’re right, I did, (check it out here) but as I was making these cookies last night, which were originally going to be pumpkin snickerdoodles, I had the sudden urge to add oatmeal. I have no idea why, I just felt compelled to add oatmeal.

And in complete honesty, I’m still undecided if that was a smart move.

You see, I have this thing where I’m never quite sure if I like what I make. Unless it has Nutella. Or peanut butter and chocolate. Or strawberries. Or caramel.

But pumpkin… it’s like tea. I want to love tea like Sherlock and the British. I want to drink breakfast tea on the weekends as I curl up on the couch with a good book and big blanket. And each time I make a cup of tea I think I am suddenly going buy the whole tea aisle at the store because I love it so much. But that hasn’t happened yet and this is how I feel towards pumpkin.

I love baking with pumpkin because it means it’s Fall and it smells amazing! Pumpkin desserts and banana bread are truly the best smelling desserts as they bake. And since I love baking with pumpkin, I want to love eating pumpkin too. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. So I usually need to add some other ingredient into the mix to break it up like chocolate or in this case, oatmeal.

If you like pumpkin, then these are for you. Even for a not-quite-sure-I-like-pumpkin-lover like me, you’ll like them. They’re also dairy free and adapted from a Go Dairy Free recipe. They are easy to make, don’t dry out the next day and the pumpkin flavor isn’t too overpowering. I guess the oatmeal addition wasn’t so bad after all. I think… 🙂 Hope you enjoy!

-Kelly

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbls maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups oats

Directions:

Pr-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In stand mixer, mix together all wet ingredients and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
Stir in oats.
Scoop onto cookie sheet and place 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

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