Nothing beats that smell, or the sensation of eating a warm cookie with a tall glass of cold milk. Because of that, I usually only bake as many cookies as we plan to eat right away. Then, I form the rest of the cookies into balls, place them close together on a cookie sheet, and freeze them. When frozen, I throw them into a Ziploc, pop them back in the freezer, and remove just a few at a time when our stomachs are in need of a little tickling 🙂 And while they are baking, sit back and enjoy the intoxicating aroma of fresh baked cookies… better than any scented candle you’ll ever light 🙂 For more on freezing cookie dough, read our article, The Magic Cookie Bag.
Over the years, my favorite cookie has changed. All the standards like peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies made with milk chocolate, and oatmeal cookies with pecans, have held that place of honor. Right now, my “favoritest” cookie is the Grape-Nuts Cookie. My mom first made these 20 years ago. She got the recipe off the back of a Grape-Nuts box. They are crunchy AND chewy! Yum! This recipe makes 6 dozen cookies. Enough to fill your house with the wonderful smell of fresh baked cookies many times. Enjoy!
GRAPE-NUTS COOKIES – Makes 6 dozen
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) margarine or butter
2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 c. Post Grape-Nuts cereal
2 c. oatmeal
1 c. dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, etc.)
Directions:
Mix flour and baking soda in small bowl.
Beat margarine or butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed to soften.
Gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition.
Stir in cereal, oats and fruit.
Use a cookie scoop and place on an ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake in a 375 oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely on wire racks.
What cookies are you munching on these days? If you’d like to include a recipe, feel free to include it in our comments! Always looking for my next favorite cookie, hehe!
Yum. Sounds like a nice variation of a standard oatmeal cookie. I know I would love the crunch. Going to try this. Here is a recipe for what I can only describe as a rolled shortbread. It has been in our family for generations. It is awesome with that first cup of coffee in the morning!
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
4 to 6 cups flour
Cream together the shortening, butter, vanilla and salt together until well-blended.
Then add eggs and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and sour cream.
Chill dough for several hours. Roll to desired thickness and then cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 425 degrees on greased cookie sheets for about 10 min.
We love shortbread cookies but I've never seen a recipe for rolled shortbread. I will definitely give this a try! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe with us.
Have I told you guys I love you yet this week. If not, I LOVE YOU!!! You know how a recipe can be a favorite and then for some bizzarro reason it just stops getting made and you forget all about it? Well atleast that’s what I do, hehe. Well my Granny Smith (no kidding, that was my grandmother’s name) use to make these when I was a kid and I loved them. I even made them when we first got married. I don’t know why, but I just stopped making them. My granny just died a couple months ago, and I got her books and recipes when the job to sort through them and put together her recipes. (I know this is a long post but I’m not done yet, hehe) So I haven’t gotten to doing that yet. But when I saw this recipe this morning, I opened the box and started sorting through her stuff. I found the exact recipe and she had this note on it “Make for Shelly. It’s her favorite.” So after I got done crying I looked more closely at other recipes and many of them had those kind of notes. One said “Make without nuts for Stephen, the old PITA!” Granny didn’t swear, ever, but she would call my grandpa a PITA, which I found out later stood for a Pain In The As*. Can you believe that? Okay, I’m done. Just needed to share this story right now. Next grocery run I’ll buy grapenutz.
First off, I am sorry for your loss. Grandmas are very special people in our lives. Then, must say, your Granny Smith sounds like a hoot. I will need to remember the PITA acronym 🙂 Although it will be quite a task, I envy you getting a chance to go through your grandma's things. Ever since we created a family website, everyone shares their recipes online. It is great because no matter when we live, we can see each other's recipes, and we can write something about the origin, but I'm afraid it loses the charm of a well loved, well used recipe card! Thanks so much for sharing this lovely experience. And we appreciate the love 😉
This came from a Pillsbury mini-cookbook from the early ’80s. I’ve tinkered with it over the years. It makes 5-6 dozen, so halve it, if you like. Enjoy!
Crackly Topped Ginger Cookies
1 1/2 C. sugar
3/4 C. butter or solid shortening
1/2 C. molasses
2 eggs
3 C. flour (whole wheat is okay)
2 t. soda
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. ginger
1/2 t. cloves
Preheat oven to 375. In large bowl, combine first four ingredients, blend well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-12 minuts until edges are frim to touch. (Cookies will be soft in center) Cool 1 minute, remove from cookie sheets.
There is a outdoor historical museum in Dearborn, MI called Greenfield Village. Incredible place with Thomas Edison's Menlo Park workshop and birth home, the Wright Brother's bicycle shop, and many other wonderful homes of interest. I use to take the children there once a week in the summer. One of our favorite things was to buy a cookie from their bakery. The flours were ground at the museum, and the cookies baked in wood ovens. My favorite cookie was a ginger cookie. So, over the years I have tried many recipes for ginger/molasses cookies. Can't wait to try this one. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe with us.
Despite having about 1000 other things I should have done instead, I baked these cookies last night. 🙂 They are delicious! But mine came out sort of thin, almost lacy. It’s hard to describe. Any idea why that happened? I used butter instead of margarine (I use butter for everything)–maybe that’s why? They are still very tasty, and I will make them again for sure, but I’d really like to get them a little thicker like the ones in your photos.