Old Soul, Young Heart

  Snickerdoodles Recipe from: Lori Leake Directions: Mix together... ½ cup softened butter ½ cup shortening 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 ½ cups sugar 2 eggs Sift together and stir in... 2 ¾ cups flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt Chill dough Roll into balls and roll into a mixture of... 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon Place on ungreased cookie sheets Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes until lightly brown, but still soft A Christmas classic! I'm always amazed when a recipe is so spot on. This made exactly 3 dozen cookies and the amount of sugar/cinnamon to roll them in was perfect. I baked mine for 8 minutes, but probably could've gone slightly less.

Microwave Fudge Ingredients: ¾ cup butter 3 cups sugar 5 ½ oz evaporated milk 6 oz semi sweet chocolate chips 6 oz milk chocolate chips 7 oz jar marshmallow creme 1 teaspoon vanilla Directions: Microwave the butter, sugar, and evaporated milk on high for 12 minutes, stirring after each 4 minutes Add the chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, and vanilla; stir until melted Pour into a well-greased 13x9 pan Cool and cut Freezes well! A very delicious chocolate fudge. I like mine with nuts, so I put walnuts in some of it. You can also swap the chocolate chips for 2 cups of creamy peanut butter for a pb fudge!

EZ Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe from: Pantagraph Ingredients for cake: 1 box yellow cake mix 2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding 2/3 cup oil 1 cup water 4 eggs Ingredients for topping: 1 ½ cup sugar 2 tablespoons cinnamon 1 cup chopped nuts Directions: Mix cake ingredients and pour into a greased 13x9 pan Pour the topping ingredients onto cake mix Swirl with a knife Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until done I've never made this before and I don't think I've ever tried it myself either. It was good! I had a coworker say it was the best cake she's ever had and it melted in her mouth, so it must've been decent. 😂 And very EZ to make, indeed!

Spiced Pecans Recipe from: Karen Robbins Ingredients: 2 egg whites 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon water 1 teaspoon salt 1 lb pecans Mix together egg whites, sugar, cinnamon, water, and salt. Stir in pecans. Spread onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 250° for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes. Yummo! Christmasy vibes! Super easy! What's not to love?! Could make with almonds or walnuts or any other type of nut. I'm leaving out all my nuts jokes!

Scalloped Corn Recipe from: Grandma Whiteside (my mom's mom) Ingredients: 1 can cream style corn 1 can whole kernel corn and liquid 2 eggs (beaten) 1 cup sour cream 1 stick butter (melted) 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix a dash of pepper 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup minced onion Directions: Mix above together in a large bowl. Pour into a large glass baking dish sprayed with Pam. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until golden brown. Also known as "corn casserole," this is a super easy side dish to take to any gathering. It's cornbread with a twist! It's a staple for us at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is something I can't really screw up! Although I was close to screwing it up once when I wasn't paying attention and almost added cream cheese instead of sour cream. *sigh*

Caramel Brownies Recipe from: Brenda Watson Ingredients: 1 package Kraft caramels 1 German chocolate cake mix ⅓ cup evaporated milk ⅓ cup evaporated milk (yes, this is listed twice) ¾ cup melted butter 6 ounces chocolate chips Directions: Melt caramels and ⅓ cup evaporated milk. Set aside. Combine cake mix, butter, and the other ⅓ cup evaporated milk. Mix until doughy. Press half of cake mixture into ungreased 13x9 pan. Bake for 8 minutes at 350°. Sprinkle chocolate chips over dough, then pour caramel mixture, then drop remaining cake mixture over caramel. Bake for 20 minutes at 350°. I can't screw this one up; I've made it so many times! Also, it's just easy and hard to screw up anyway. They aren't the prettiest brownies you've ever seen, but boy, are they delish! I use less butter than is called for above (I use one stick). I also use a lot more chocolate chips than is called for above and usually I like to mix milk chocolate and semi-sweet chips together. Fun fac...

  Pumpkin Cookies Recipe from: Peggy Richard Directions: Combine dry ingredients and set aside: 2 cups flour 1 cup oatmeal 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt Cream together: 1 cup softened butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup white sugar Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla; mix well Add 1 cup pumpkin and dry ingredients a little at a time Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips; mix well Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet at 350° for 15 minutes Frost with cream cheese frosting It's pumpkin szn! This is one of the recipes that my aunt Peggy is world famous for. Mine did not turn out like hers did; I think it's because she lets her dough refrigerate. Hers are larger and fluffier and denser. Mine ended up being a little crispy on the bottom, which is fine too. They are yummy, though, even without refrigerated dough! I put in way more chocolate chips than it calls for. Store-bought frosting is both efficient and delicious. The recipe yields 3 dozen cookies. Make these...