Oatmeal Carrot Cookies

Oatmeal Carrot Cookies

In all honesty, I was not excited for these cookies.  I do not like carrots.  Any vegetables for that matter.  So making cookies, something that I love and look forward to, WITH veggies??!! Forget it.  Seems like a waste of time and good ingredients.  Let's just skip these!  Who will ever know?  Anyway, who is in charge of this blog anyway?  I did set out on a journey, though.  I do want to make ALL the cookies in this book.  Finish something I start. Persevere, you know.  Awww! So I caved. I made them.

They are a soft cookie.  My daughter says they taste like banana bread.  "You don't even taste the carrots in them."  So after letting the entire story of  "Green Eggs and Ham" go through my head.  I tried them.  I did. I did.  I cannot say that I will "eat them in a box with a fox", but I survived and they were ok.  Now, my older daughter thinks they are great and my younger daughter loves that I let her eat them for breakfast (they have veggies in them you know).  My son didn't even know what was in them and he took one look at them and said, "Yuck!"  (translated to No Thanks, of course).

All joking aside. These are healthy, low calorie cookies (80 per cookie). They use honey instead of sugar.  They have oatmeal which is a good source of iron and other nutrients.  And, of course, they have carrots! So as a breakfast item, they are not all that bad.  They were easy to mix up and easy to bake.  They taste very much like carrot cake to me - minus the cream cheese frosting :)  If I was to make them again, I would probably chop up the carrots into smaller pieces for my own texture issues, but most will like them just as they are.

If you are a veggie lover, I'd give them a 4 out of 5 rating.  If you are more like me, the rating will drop to more of a 3 out of 5 rating.

Oatmeal Carrot Cookies
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup shredded carrot

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease cookie sheets.  In large bowl, combine all ingredients except nuts and carrot; beat at low speed until well blended.  Stir in nuts and carrots.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets.

2. Bake at 350 for 8 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.  Immediately remove from cookie sheets.  Cool and store between sheets of waxed paper in a tightly sealed container.

My Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

So I took a break from the book and made an old favorite.  I made my Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies.  They are so good and they remind me of my Mom.  She was a great lady and I miss her still.  She is with the Lord probably dancing, bowling and maybe even playing Bingo.  Who knows?  I do know that she is with Jesus.

Anyway, back to cookies.  This recipe calls for shortening and cream of tartar.  I'm sure you could substitute butter or margerine for the shortening.  I think shortening makes them more crunchy and I like them that way.  Butter would make them more of a softer cookie. Play around with it if you like.  I love the cream of tartar flavor in this cookie. I don't see it on all peanut butter cookie recipes.  Try adding it to your recipe and see if it adds a little more "hmm" to yours.

The dough came out a little dry this last time. I'm wondering if it's because I used crunchy instead of creamy peanut butter.  I have made a note to use less flour if using crunchy and see if that makes a difference next time.  They baked fine and they tasted wonderful so I'm not sure that it matters.  It was just kind of frustrating trying to roll them into balls.  You had to press them together a little more.  I guess it was my work out for the day.

Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
dash of salt

The extent of my Mom's instructions are roll in small balls and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.  Good Luck.  Just kidding.  Here is how I mix them up.

1. Cream together shortening, brown sugar and white sugar.  Add egg, vanilla and peanut butter.  Mix well.  Add flour, soda, cream of tartar and salt.  Mix together.
2. Roll into small balls and place on cookie sheet.  Dip fork into small bowl of sugar and press down on cookie.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Coconut Macadamia Jumbos

Coconut Macadamia Jumbos

The more I eat these cookies, the more I like them.  At first, I was like,"These are good, but nothing special".  Then  I take another bite and I'm thinking, "These are really good!" These cookies were sampled by the neighbor kids who came to swim and they all said they were, "Great!"  The family review was also very favorable to these.  Andy, 8 yr old, has said several times that these are really good cookies.  My husband who hates coconut tried one and said they were good.  "There IS coconut, but not too much."

As for making these?  These were easy.  We don't eat a lot of coconut so I had to make sure I had that and macadamia nuts.  Otherwise, they mixed up like normal cookies.  Baked up nice.  The first batch did turn out doughy, but brown on the bottom so I did lower the temp to 325 and baked them for 12 minutes.  Here is the recipe:

Coconut Macadamia Jumbos
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup coconut
1 (3 1/2 oz) jar macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In large bowl, combine brown sugar, sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well.  Stir in coconut and macadamia nuts.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

2. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.