Cold Day Cookies

It is a very cold-snowy-icy weekend in Kansas perfect for holiday baking. So, that is how I spent my Saturday... in the kitchen knee deep in sugar, butter, and flour.

We started out the morning with

Peanut Butter Balls:
3 C Rice Krispys
1 box of Powdered Sugar
1/2 C of Margarine
2 C of peanut butter

-- Mix in bow, until fully incorporated.

Ball aprox 1-2 T of peanut mix on to lined cookie sheet (wax paper works best)
Set aside, or in fridge.

Melt in double boiler
8oz Hershey Bar
6oz of Chocolate Chips
1/2 Stick of Paraffin wax (yes odd, but it works)

One by one coat peanut butter balls in mixture and let cool.

Then we made -

Holiday Oatmeal Cookies

Mix together in a bowl:
1 3/4 C of All Purpose Flour
3/4 t of baking soda
3/4 t of baking powder
1/2 t of salt (we used a pinch)
1/2 t of ground cinnamon
1/2 t of ground nutmeg
1/2 t of orange zest
1/4 t of grated ginger

Mix together in mixer:
1 Stick of Unsalted Butter
1 Stick of Maragrine
(soften)

add
1 1/2 C packed dark brown sugar
1/4 C of sugar

after the sugar and butter mix are creamed and fluffy.
add
2 Eggs
2 1/2 t of Vanilla

slowly add flour mixture
then fold in
3 1/2 C of Oatmeal
1 C of raisins
1 C of chopped Pecans

Bake on lined cookie sheet at 350deg 8-15 min depending on size, ours were big cookies and took 15m, smaller cookies would take less time.

and if that wasn't fun... we then made..

Gingerbread Snowflakes

in bowl mix:
3 C of all purpose flour
1 1/2 t of baking powder
3/4 t of baking soda
pinch of salt
1 T of ground ginger
1 3/4 t of ground cinnamon
1/4 t of ground cloves

in blender mix:
6 T unsalted butter softened
3/4 C dk brown sugar
1 Egg

add to butter mix:
1/2 C molasses
2 t of vanilla
1 t of orange zest

mix in part of the flour mixture into the butter mixture in mixer, then kneed the rest in on counter top. Roll up into Wax paper and chill in the fridge, for at least an hour.

roll out on powdered sugar surface (to prevent sticking), use snowflake cutter to cut out, and put on lined baking sheet, and bake at 375 deg, for 7-10 min.

Whiles that was chilling we made dinner, (and a trip to Wal-Mart)

Dinner:

Baked Tomato Chicken with White Beans

Heat 2 T of Oil in Dutch Oven
add 1/2 of Onion, chopped in large chunks
add 4 cellary stalks, in large chunks, about in 1-2in in length.
let cook for a few min
then add
Italain Seasoning Mix 1 T
Thyme 1 t

add
2 leg Chicken Leg Quarters

1 C of Chicken Broth
1/2 of pre-made Spaghetti sauce with tomato chunks, we used what we had in the fridge.
add to the sauce 1/2 c of red wine

simmer of a few min on stove top, and then bake in 450deg oven, in the dutch oven with lid on, for 30-45 min, then we added in 1 can of butter beans rinsed, let set warm on stove top for 10min.

Served over pasts, 1 serving is half of a leg quarter.

Yum. Now back to cookies...

Raspberry Strippers (chicka-chicka-ba-wa) as the husband says. :)
From Cooking Light, go to www.cookinglight.com and search recipes for "Raspberry Strippers"

then we made Basic Icebox Sugar Cookies, again Cooking Light. (For those of you that know me and have had "my sugar cookies" this is not it.) This was just quick and easy, and not nearly as fatty or ahh I mean YUMMY!

It was a fun day for my husband and I, and it kept the house warm.