Oatmeal Peanut Butter cookies

Oatmeal Peanut Butter cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
2 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add egg and beat well.
2. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir. Add oatmeal and stir.
3. Using a cookie scoop, make uniform cookie dough balls and then cut them in half down the center. Roll each half into a ball and place them onto a greased baking sheet pressing each mound down with the palm of your hand to 1/4 inch thick cookies. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown.
4. To Make Filling: Cream 3 tablespoons butter with the confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, and the cream. Fill the filling into a pastry bag or large ziplock bag (cutting the corner to make a make-shift pastry bag) and squeeze filling onto half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches. Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries (you can use frozen, just make sure that you dry them as best you can)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1-2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for sprinkling (optional, but you should invest in some because it makes everything just that much better!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin cups and spray with Pam.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, toss the blueberries with about 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture. This will help them to stay afloat in the muffins instead of sinking to the bottom. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using your paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Beating your sugar and butter together properly really does make your baked goods that much better.
5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, then mix in the vanilla extract.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until moistened. Add the milk and beat just until combined. Do not overbeat!
7. Lightly fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatula, careful not to squish them. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups so that each one is 2/3 full. Sprinkle a small amount of turbinado sugar over the batter in each muffin cup for an extra special crunch (it makes the muffins so good, seriously).
8. Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack or another surface to cool. Remove muffins from pan and let cool completely.

Whoopie Pies

Whoopie Pies

Mom’s Famous Whoopie Pies
makes about 14 after batter & cookie sampling
brought to you by very fortunate family ties.

Blend	Add
1/4 c Crisco	2 c flour
1 c milk	1/4 c + 1 tbsp cocoa
1 c sugar	1.5 tsp baking soda
1 egg	1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Drop by the small tablespoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet—a tablespoon-sized bakery scoop works best. Bake exactly 8 minutes at 375^o, see if a toothpick comes out clean, and if it doesn’t, bake another 2 minutes (10 total). Upon extraction from the oven, remove from pan immediately to wire rack to cool.

And now the creme filling (reminder: it’s not frosting, guys)

1/2 c margarine or butter (room temp is best)
1/2 c Crisco (my mother is insistent that this MUST be Crisco and CANNOT be generic shortening, nor substituted in any way . . . but if you do get it to work with a substitution, please let me know!)
1 c sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c warm whole milk (20 seconds in the microwave should do it)

Beat with a mixer (stand or hand, your choice) for-freakin-ever. It will start out just like, well, lumps of Crisco floating in milk, then bits will get smaller and smaller, then it’ll slosh around for a little bit, and, much like the butter making process, you’ll be wondering if this will ever become anything or if you maybe messed it up somehow. Suddenly, about five minutes later, your mix will look weird for a second, and within moments your slushy mess will turn into a glorious white creme, smooth and perfect in a way rarely seen outside the confines of uber-processed food with chemicals you can’t pronounce that are not even available to the consumer in their pure form.

Assembly

As soon as the whoopie cookies are cool, match each whoopie with its closest brother in size—even if yours didn’t all come out the same size, evenly matched whoopies will look much much nicer. Spread some filling on the flat side of one, then place the second on top. Repeat. This does not need to be done immediately before serving, as the filling tends to maintain its consistency surprisingly well, and some (like my mom) would argue that a day-old whoopie pie is even better than fresh. I like them all.

No need to refrigerate, sealed plastic or plastic wrap will keep them fresh.

. . . and that’s it. Congratulations! You just made the best whoopie pies known to man.