Cookies for my Cookie Monsters

What child and mother doesn't love cookies? Baking cookies is a favorite around our house, measuring, stiring, eating the dough, shaping the cookies, baking, eating...MMMMM. Here is one of our favorite recipes.

Coconut Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

1 cup of coconut oil(butter can be used, but coconut oil is yummier and healthier)
1 cup of raw sugar
1/2 cup of honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour or fresh ground white wheat
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of quick cooking oats
1-1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans
1/2-1 cup of shredded coconut(I use unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease the baking sheets. In a large bowl cream the coconut oil with the sweeteners until light and fluffy, then add eggs one at a time, beating well. Stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. Add slowly to the creamed mixture, then stir in by hand oats, nuts and coconut. Shape into small balls and bake for 10-12 minutes.

If you are using fresh ground flour you may need more of the nuts and coconuts and if you used all purpose flour you may need a bit more of the liquid sweetner. Just have fun experimenting. This recipe always turns out well no matter what adaption I make to it.



Enjoy!

Coffee Cake Memoir

Sometime back my husband brought me home a wonderful coffee cake from The Honey Baked Ham Company. This coffee cake was of a pound cake consistency and texture with a cinnamon nut crumb topping and a marbling within. Very Yummy! Ever since that first cake he brought home I purposed to attempt to recreate it and the bleak, dreary day yesterday provided the opportunity I had been waiting for. The results were, in the words of my nine year old..."this is the best cake ever" I take that as success. I must say yesterday's cake was even better this morning after the crust had hardened slightly and the flavors had increased in intensity.

Here is what I did. I found a pound cake recipe(my favorite is the sour cream pound cake in an old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)since my favorite recipe was not at my disposal I used Grandmother Paul's Sourcream Pound Cake from Paula Deen's Lady and Son's Cookbook. I followed the recipe exactly, but next time I will cut it by 1/3 since it ended up being a bit more batter than needed for the bundt pan I used.

Here is the recipe as written by Paula Deen

2 stick of butter
3 c. sugar
1 c. Sour Cream
3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda(I guess I did make a change here, I added to this 1 tsp of baking powder for more rise)
6 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together; add sour cream. Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla.

Here is my coffee cake addition to the recipe. I didn't measure, but I'll try and give some estimated measurements here.
Place the following in a bowl:

1-2 cups of chopped nuts(I used pecans)
1/2-1 cup of brown or raw sugar
2-4T of cinnamon
4T of butter
Blend together with hands.

Place half of mixture in the bottom of a greased and floured bundt pan, pour in half of cake batter and sprinkle the other half of crumb mixture in, cut through with a butter knife and top with remaining batter. Bake at 325 for an hour and then sit back and enjoy or save for the next morning to have with a cup of coffee.


Enjoy!