Elementary Chef

This is my husband’s favorite cookie. It’s called no bake cookies and are so easy it’s a shame we don’t make these more often. But once again, it seems like when the holidays roll around, we make these and not any other time of the year. While they are no bake cookies, you will have to use your stove top.

Here are the ingredients -

3 cups one minute oatmeal
4 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat cocoa, milk, butter, and sugar until it boils. Then add vanilla, peanut butter, and oats. Remove from heat. Then on wax paper, drop a spoonful at a time to make the cookies. Let cool and eat up.

I had a panic moment early today as I couldn’t find my cookbook! Ack! I knew it had to be in the kitchen, so I finally spotted it on the makeshift pantry that in reality is a bookshelf. The first cookie recipe I wanted to share was tea cakes. Recipes on the Internet for this are not the same as the one I have. The one I use has very few ingredients. This is a quick and easy cookie recipe. It’s also a good cookie to use with cookie cutters.

Here are the ingredients -

3 eggs
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour

Mix all ingredients into a pan of sifted plain flour(if you self rising flour, then leave out salt and baking powder). Stir until dough is stiff enough to roll out. Either dip out dough by the spoonful onto a baking sheet or roll out on a floured board to use cookie cutters. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown on the edges.

Are you ready for the most wonderful time of the year? My favorite Christmas food has to be cookies! It seems that this is the only time of the year we make these wonderful sweet treats, so I gobble them up at every opportunity.

So this week at Elementary Chef, I’ll be sharing my absolute favorite Christmas cookie recipes. Each day I will be posting a cookie recipe. You can expect these cookies to be delicious and simple. There’s one cookie recipe that makes a lot of cookies - perfect for those holiday cookie swaps.

One of my husband’s favorite Christmas traditions is decorating Christmas cookies that his mom made every year. She would make the icing and then color it different colors. We will start that tradition this year at our house plus we are going to build a Gingerbread house. It should be fun and a great tradition that we will all enjoy making and eating.