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.
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.
I do not think I ever had a ladyfinger cookie until Mark was teething. We could not find “normal” teething biscuits, so we bought ladyfingers instead. They were also good with tea.
Years later, I discovered they were also a main ingredient in tiramisu. They are available at stores, but not often easy to find. So we learned how to make our own.
These are just a very simple chocolate chip bar cookie.
Audrey learned how to first make these when she was eleven. She continues to make them, usually with chocolate chips and occasionally with pecans.
Meringues are not super hard to make, but they will not set up on a humid day or if there is any yolk in the egg whites. Sometimes it feels as if you have to beat the whites “forever”. But these are well worth it
Called by many names, Chruściki, Bowties, Faworki and Angel Wings, these are Polish treat’s that my parents would enjoy when newly married. Daddy said that he would enjoy them with my grandfather around lunch before Lent. Grandpa would buy the treats and he and Daddy would have most, if not all the box eaten before getting home.
These are best the same day they are made.
Ginger cookies are a favorite of ours. This one is easily our favorite recipe for gingerbread men. We discovered the recipe in 2011 while studying Germany and this was one of the recipes we continue to make.
While they are very good plain, they are fun to decorate. It is best to decorate the day you plan to eat the cookies.
It has not snowed much this winter, so we have not had much chance to play in the snow. Andrea decided it was the perfect day to make snowball cookies when it started to snow for a short while today.
The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts (or pecans). We adapted our recipe to use chocolate chips in place of some of the nuts because that is Andrea’s favorite way.
While these are great cookies, they do not stay fresh long. Plan to enjoy them in a day or two, or enjoy them with your favorite hot winter drink.
This is our favorite sugar cookie recipe. It is a flat, crisp cookie that is great for decorating. We usually use lemon extract (or 1/2 tsp lemon peel), but almond extract is good in these cookies also.
When we were overseas, we could not find graham crackers. We found a lot of other really good cookies and crackers, but sometimes I just wanted a graham cracker to dunk in milk or a good base for a s’more.
Cutting into long thin rectangles, and then baking the crackers until crisp, we often used these for when the children were teething. As they grew older, we cut them into small animal shapes for “animal crackers”. They also enjoyed these cut into large hearts and stars with shaped cut out from the middle.
The recipe makes a lot, but if stored in a cool dry place, they last for weeks. Unless your family enjoys them as much as mine, then the crackers only last a short while.
