Pistachio, Cranberry, White Chocolate Biscotti

Andrea decided we needed some biscotti for our tea. Instead of using plain white chocolate, she caramelized some. She found many different recipes for caramelizing white chocolate online. It made the biscotti extra good, but the cookie was a little sweeter than we liked. Next time we make this, we plan to reduce the sugar some.

Canadian Moose Fart Cookies

We are studying world history and geography this year. As part of geography, we look for unique international recipes that we can try. While looking, I found a few recipes for “Moose Fart” no bake cookies. It seems they are from Newfoundland, but other places have similar recipes with different names.

These are good, but very sweet. We tried adding more graham cracker crumbs and less coconut, but they were dry and not so good. They would be extra good with nuts, so we added optional pecans to the recipe. When we shared the original recipe with friends, they disappeared very quickly.

To make the chocolate version, check out the notes.

Marble Cookie Squares

Another recipe from Aunt Bonnie’s recipe box. We baked ours in a pie pan which worked very well also. The card did not included time to bake, but we just let our set up like a cookie.

One thing I really like about many of the recipes from Aunt Bonnie is the recipe makes a small amount. There was enough here for us, but no left overs. I am not sure when she copied this recipe, but when I looked it up, it looks like it was popular in the early 1960’s.

“Frantic Mother Cookies”

I have no idea where Mom found this recipe years ago. I am pretty sure it was in a “how to Mom” type book. We rarely made chocolate chip cookies growing up, but we made these often. Usually we made them drop cookies, but bar style gets them done a lot faster! They are a dryer, crispier cookie, so add a little extra water if desired.

While you can use any type of cereal, corn flakes or rice cereal is the best. One day I made them for the family I was babysitting and used Cheerios. Dom informed me that I could put most anything I wanted into the cookies I made for them, but NEVER use Cheerios again 🙂

Use 1 cup of your favorite “fillings”. Growing up we usually used half unsweetened coconut flakes and chocolate chips. But mix and match with walnuts, pecans or other favorite nuts, raisins, craisins or dried cherries (or other dried fruit sliced in small pieces) and your favorite chocolate chips.

Wishing Cookies

Aunt Bonnie made us these cookies for the first time nine years ago. She told us that “if you break them into three pieces without talking, your wish comes true”. It has never been proven, since my kids can’t stop talking long enough to break a cookie into three pieces 🙂

Cowboy Cookies

Allan and I discovered this recipe in Grandma Reble’s collection when I went to Colorado with the McGuire’s for the first time. Since getting married, we go to Colorado every few years and usually make at least one recipe from Grandma’s collection.

As you can see from the notes, Grandma thought they were “very good”. We still make them often because they have always been one of our favorite cookies. Years later, Oma gave Andrea a very similar recipe.

In our family, we do not use butterscotch chips. If we use chocolate chips, they are “Cowboy Cookies”, but if we use M&M’s they are “Cowgirl Cookies”. I can not remember who insisted on that name change, but it was probably Andrea.

Cow Chip Cookies

We discovered this recipe many years ago in a cookbook at Grandma Reble’s house. I do not know the name of the cookbook, but it has a bright pink cover and it is a collection of recipes from different people in CO. We try new recipes from this book every time we visit Grandma’s house.

These are larger cookies, so we usually make a half batch.

Andrea showing off a cow chip before our cow chip throwing contest.

Peanut Butter Cookies

This is the first recipe that Megan learned to make on her own. She loves peanut butter, so she quickly memorized the recipe. This has turned into “her” specialty and she asks to make it often.

To make it different, Megan will sometimes add mini chocolate chips, or add melted chocolate to the top.

Written for Auntie Kristi from memory, September 2018

Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 4th is National chocolate chip cookie day.

For some reason, I did not bring a chocoate chip cookie recipe when we moved to Slovakia.  My friend, Joan Britton, gave me this recipe and told me the dough was really thick (her recipe called for one egg), but was the best recipe.  I could not find chocolate chips there, so I just cut up chocolate bars.

We took them to work to share and I often left out the chocolate for our friend who was allergic to it.  The cookies are still very good without chocolate!

When we moved overseas again, the eggs were smaller and we discovered two eggs worked very well.  We also could not find brown sugar, so we started using molasses instead.  Even though we can get brown sugar here, we prefer being able to adjust the molasses to our own personal tastes.