Peanut Butter Cookies - my own variation...mmm good!

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter ( I used a natural, chunky peanut butter)
  
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats, ground to a flour
  
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, ground up oats, wheat flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, add the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Do not overbake! Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Snickerdoodles

This recipe is always a favorite for those who love cinnamon & sugar... I happen to love cookies or any dessert made with real butter.

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
3. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Blend well. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Roll dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

Simple Whole Wheat Bread Recipe....mmmmm good!

Here is the whole wheat bread recipe that I use and it turns out beautiful every time. I have tried it with the hard red wheat and the white wheat flour. Both are fantastic! I bake the loaves for 30 minutes but I do have a really old oven which may make a difference. For those newer ovens that work really well :), check at 25 minutes. I wish I had a picture to post with this. Oh well, next time.

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

• 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.

A Twist on the Chocolate Chip Cookie

I always turn on the oven and set it for 350 before starting.

1 cup of butter, softened
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla (I prefer double vanilla)
1 c. oats (ground in a food processor until a powder)
1 c. Rice Chex (ground in a food processor with the oatmeal until a powder)
2 1/4 c. flour (maybe a little less)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Kosher salt
about 2 cups of chocolate chips

Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and both brown and granulated sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Pour all of the dry ingredients including the chocolate chips into the wet mixture at once. Mix just until combined. Do not overmix!! Place dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes and tadah!! Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes while they cool and then transfer to a cooling rack. :) Tasty morsels.

Award Winning Pumpkin Goodness Bread

Last weekend the town that I live in held it's annual Harvest Festival. I saw that they were having a baking contest and wasn't going to be left out. I decided to stay up until 3am the night before making my delicious recipes. I picked one recipe for the season which qualified for a specific catergory...Pumpkin Bread. To my surprise, I won 2nd place! I was pleasantly surprised and won a $25.00 gift certificate along with having my recipe published in next year's cookbook.

Buffy's "Pumpkin Goodness" Bread

3 1/2 c. flour
3 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. oil
1 large can of 100% pure pumpkin
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. fresh nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. Kosher salt

Cream Cheese Frosting
(to be drizzled over the top of the loaves of bread)
(divide the frosting recipe into 1/3's for bread loaves)

6 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar

Grease and lightly flour 2 bread pans
Mix sugar, eggs and oil. Blend in pumpkin and then add remaining dry ingredients. Bake 1 hour @325 degrees. Use a toothpick to make sure the bread is completely done in the middle. The toothpick should come out pretty clean. Let the loaves cool some before drizzling the cream cheese mixture. :)