Old Soul, Young Heart

Chocolate Mint Sno-Tops Ingredients: 1 ½ cups flour 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 10 ounce package mint chips 6 tablespoons softened butter 1 cup sugar 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla 2 eggs powdered sugar Directions: Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Melt 1 cup mint chips. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add melted chips and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add flour mixture and remaining chips. Freeze until firm -- about 20 minutes. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Use ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. I've really been falling behind on this assignment of making the recipes from my mom's book, but alas... life. I'm certainly still baking here and there, but I usually do my trusty stand-bys instead of making new things from the recipe book. Chocolate Mint Sno-Tops are a Sandy Scheffert Christmas classic. These and the regular Chocolate Crinkles were popular around this time of year and one of my favorites. I...

Cracker Jack Cookies Recipe from: Mary Dunn Ingredients:  1 cup butter (softened) 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 ½ cups flour 2 cups oatmeal 2 cups Rice Krispies 1 cup coconut Directions: Cream butter and add sugars gradually Add eggs and vanilla Add baking powder, baking soda, and flour Mix well an dadd the remaining ingredients Drop by teaspoon onto well greased cookie sheet Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until light brown The name of these cookies sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't remember ever having them based on the ingredient. Then, when I sunk my teeth into one, I knew right away that I'd had them before and, I'd say, with relative regularity throughout my childhood. I'm not sure if Mom made them at a certain time of year (Christmas?). They are slightly crunchy and definitely chewy with the oatmeal and coconut. The coconut is not overpowering if you're not into that. It...

Three Layer Cookies Recipe from: Norma Collins Ingredients: 1 box Club crackers 1 stick butter 1 cup crushed graham crackers ¾ cup sugar ½ cup brown sugar ¼ cup milk ⅔ cup p eanut butter ½ cup chocolate chips ½ cup butterscotch chips Directions: Line a greased 13 x 9 pan with Club crackers Boil sugars, graham cracker crumbs, milk, and butter for 2 minutes Pour over crackers and add another layer of crackers Melt peanut butter and chips together Spread on top of crackers Cool in fridge Cut into squares This recipe came from my "adopted grandma" -- Norma Collins. She died in 2016 and was the sweetest lady. We would visit Grandma and Grandpa Collins at least once a year at Christmastime when we were kids. I'm surprised we didn't see them more often since they only lived on Jersey Avenue; virtually a few blocks from our house on Irving Street. I always looked forward to and enjoyed our visits with them. Look at how cute Grandpa & Grandma Collins were! Norma was the mo...

Delicious Cookies Recipe from: Lori Sutton Ingredients: 1 egg 3 ½ cups flour 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 1 cup oil 1 cup softened butter 1 cup oatmeal 1 cup Rice Krispies 6 ounces chocolate chips 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt Directions: Mix and bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Will look light even when done! These are, indeed, delicious. I would describe them as a mix between a sugar cookie and a chocolate chip cookie, with some nice texture from the oatmeal and Rice Krispies. I added more chocolate chips than it called for, because that's what I do. 👍

Tollhouse Pan Cookies Ingredients 2¼ cups flour 1 cup soft butter ¾ cup brown sugar ¾ cup white sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs 6 ounces chocolate chips optional: nuts Directions Mix above and spread into a greased and floured jelly roll pan Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes Cool and cut into squares I decided on a whim to make these tonight since it's National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. So here is a whole pan of chocolate chip cookies. Can't go wrong! Very easy to throw this together! Use a stand mixer if you can.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cookies Ingredients: 1 cup sugar ½ cup butter (softened) ½ cup sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs 2 ¼ cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ cup cocoa Directions: Combine first five ingredients (sugar, butter, sour cream, vanilla, eggs) and blend well Stir in remaining ingredients Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls two inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes Good if frosted These were one of my oft requested items and I've made them a few times in the past. I just love a chocolate cookie, what can I say? Frosting on these is a must, in my opinion. I had another coworker birthday coming up, so I made these for Ian. He's not a fan of store-bought frosting (well, la-di-da...just kidding...kinda), so I also made homemade frosting for these. I have a few frosting recipes in my mom's recipe book, but Ian provided his mom's recipe for me and I made that kind. The recipe for the frosting is below. I didn't ...

Funfetti Cookies Recipe from: Sis (my great aunt) Directions: Mix together: 1 Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix 2 eg gs ⅓ cup oil Roll into 1 inch balls and flatten with a glass dipped in sugar Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes Can be frosted. Freeze well. First of all, this recipe being from Sis really brought back memories for me. Sis was my mom's aunt--my grandma's sister--who lived in LeRoy. Her real name was Lorraine, but "Sis" was her nickname and she was never called anything else. Well, sometimes we called/call her Sis Piss with a lisp because it's fun and funny. Not disrespectful at all! Just being silly gooses. We didn't visit Sis too often, but we'd always make the trip to LeRoy at Christmastime. My brother and I would request the Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas album on the way and we'd listen to it on cassette tape. I'm pretty sure my mom hated those songs and dreaded our request. Sis would always get us little trinket toys for Christmas th...

We got our marriage license on Friday! Centerpiece saga: So I Do Events it is. Simple Elegance neglected to get back to me (though responded quite quickly when I emailed them again asking for an update on what we had talked about a week earlier!) and they don't have enough centerpieces for all of the tables. I had a good experience with I Do Events a couple of months ago and they've been responsive, so I'm going to reward their good behavior with our business haha! We met yesterday and I feel confident that it'll be beautiful. The only bad part is that they are located in Washington, so I'll have to pick up the glass on Thursday and someone will have to return it on Monday, but we'll survive! RSVPs were due on Saturday and we received 97 out of 136 by the deadline. A few have trickled in since then. C'mon, friends and fam! It ain't that hard to drop something that's pre-stamped into the mail. Guess we'll be doing a little research on those w...