All Day Cookie Marathon
I am a cookie baker wannabe. I imagine myself baking cookies and if you took a tour of my baking cupboard you would see that it is replete with every kind of cookie baking ingredient imaginable--especially chips. Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chocolate peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, chocolate caramel chips and butterscotch chips. Why so many? Because I imagine myself a cookie baker but I rarely ever do it, much to my family's dismay. I threaten to bake cookies all the time.
So, today is my official Christmas Cookie Baking Day. So far I've mixed up Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies, Tulip Girl's Gingerbread Men, a double batch of sugar cut-out cookies, and Snickerdoodles. Because they all have to chill before rolling out and baking, I decided to make a bar cookie while we're waiting.
I haven't made this before but it sure looks good:
Magic Cookie Bars
(Recipe from OPERS Employee Cookbook, given to me by my mother. The recipe was submitted by Mary Ann McNeal)
1/2 c. margarine or butter
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 (i4 oz. can) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips(I used chocolate/caramel swirl chips)
1 (13 1/2 oz can) flaked coconut (1 1/2 c.)
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and mix with graham cracker crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Pour condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with remaining ingrediants. Press down firmly and bake 25-30 minutes.
[update] These bar cookies are sinfully rich and very, very yummy. Destined to be a family favorite. I don't think I pressed them down hard enough because they are very crumbly, so if you decide to make them, I'd suggest assembling them with the nuts and coconut first and then putting the chips on the top and pressing down hard. They might hold together better. After sampling on Saturday I froze the rest of them, to be taken out when cookies are needed. I can attest to the fact that they are delicious right out of the freezer and hold together perfectly. (Hey, I did say when cookies are needed!)]
Jake was amazed to find out how many batches of cookies I have mixed up so far. He asked me why I was making so many (I think he was in shock!) I told him that they are for when friends and family come and for us to have throughout the Christmas season. He doesn't want me to share the Snickerdoodles.
Jake doesn't remember it, but there was another marathon cookie making day; must've been 16 or 17 years ago based on the age he is now. My mother, my sister, Kathy, and I got together and baked Christmas cookies all day. John and Jake and nieces, Katie and Meggie helped cut out and decorate them. The guys watched football. I think it may have been during some kind of playoffs. I remember there was a big earthquake in San Fransisco (?) and that's where the game was being played. We had so much fun together that day. My sister gave me my very first Christmas mug that year. In fact I brought it with me when I sat down to blog.
Kathy can fill in the details or correct me on the specifics of the day. Maybe she'll add some memories. The more I think about it, it may have been Easter cookies. . . and maybe it was baseball. . .
It's starting to smell good in here. Probably ought to go check the timer. . .
[UPDATE: Let the revisions begin. . .Tom tells me that I must be morphing several cookie baking days into one. It was baseball, but it wasn't Easter because it was the 1989 World Series--San Francisco and Oakland (Oakland won). And that time it wasn't cut out cookies; he thinks it was pumpkin cookies and Kid's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. And that couldn't've been the day Kathy gave me my coffee mug. . .this is becoming like a "Fuzzy Memories" episode, by Jack Handy"]
So, today is my official Christmas Cookie Baking Day. So far I've mixed up Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies, Tulip Girl's Gingerbread Men, a double batch of sugar cut-out cookies, and Snickerdoodles. Because they all have to chill before rolling out and baking, I decided to make a bar cookie while we're waiting.
I haven't made this before but it sure looks good:
Magic Cookie Bars
(Recipe from OPERS Employee Cookbook, given to me by my mother. The recipe was submitted by Mary Ann McNeal)
1/2 c. margarine or butter
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 (i4 oz. can) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips(I used chocolate/caramel swirl chips)
1 (13 1/2 oz can) flaked coconut (1 1/2 c.)
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and mix with graham cracker crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Pour condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with remaining ingrediants. Press down firmly and bake 25-30 minutes.
[update] These bar cookies are sinfully rich and very, very yummy. Destined to be a family favorite. I don't think I pressed them down hard enough because they are very crumbly, so if you decide to make them, I'd suggest assembling them with the nuts and coconut first and then putting the chips on the top and pressing down hard. They might hold together better. After sampling on Saturday I froze the rest of them, to be taken out when cookies are needed. I can attest to the fact that they are delicious right out of the freezer and hold together perfectly. (Hey, I did say when cookies are needed!)]
Jake was amazed to find out how many batches of cookies I have mixed up so far. He asked me why I was making so many (I think he was in shock!) I told him that they are for when friends and family come and for us to have throughout the Christmas season. He doesn't want me to share the Snickerdoodles.
Jake doesn't remember it, but there was another marathon cookie making day; must've been 16 or 17 years ago based on the age he is now. My mother, my sister, Kathy, and I got together and baked Christmas cookies all day. John and Jake and nieces, Katie and Meggie helped cut out and decorate them. The guys watched football. I think it may have been during some kind of playoffs. I remember there was a big earthquake in San Fransisco (?) and that's where the game was being played. We had so much fun together that day. My sister gave me my very first Christmas mug that year. In fact I brought it with me when I sat down to blog.
Kathy can fill in the details or correct me on the specifics of the day. Maybe she'll add some memories. The more I think about it, it may have been Easter cookies. . . and maybe it was baseball. . .
It's starting to smell good in here. Probably ought to go check the timer. . .
[UPDATE: Let the revisions begin. . .Tom tells me that I must be morphing several cookie baking days into one. It was baseball, but it wasn't Easter because it was the 1989 World Series--San Francisco and Oakland (Oakland won). And that time it wasn't cut out cookies; he thinks it was pumpkin cookies and Kid's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. And that couldn't've been the day Kathy gave me my coffee mug. . .this is becoming like a "Fuzzy Memories" episode, by Jack Handy"]
posted by Kim from Hiraeth at 1:38 PM
5 Comments:
LOL! I was quilting in Jan D's basement the day of the San Francisco Earthquake, so I KNOW it wasn't then (that was during the world series-so Tom's right about baseball!) I'm pretty sure it was christmas cookies and during a Brown's game, I think (that's the only "Playoffs" I wouldn't have wanted to watch, too!) But I DO remember the "Christmas Goose" mug!! Fun times! Love Kath (By the way, I hope this post finds it's way into the blog comments...the last two times I've sent comments (the Christmas Movie meme and Dad's day), my posts haven't appeared. But I've been so tired, I may have done something stupid!)
Yeah! It posted! I did this one under "anonymous". Maybe I used the "other" option the other times....anyway, they appeared to be accepted, but never showed up. I'll try the Christmas movie meme again...Kath
HA! Well, do YOU remember that we had fun? I wish we could do it again. We live too far apart. . .
:(
Kath, I'm pretty sure if you click "other" it will give you a place to put your name. I'll give it a try. . .(don't forget to put the letters into the form--maybe that's what happened).
The gingerbread boys are all rolled and cut and baked and in the freezer, waiting to be taken out and decorated. We all tasted one before they went in and they are so yummy! I was delighted with how easy they were to roll out and cut.
How do you decorate yours? My cookie cutter is pretty small, so I am just going to give them raisin eyes and mix up some white royal frosting and pipe them.
Next year I am going to get a great big cookie cutter so I can give them holes for hanging.
Why don't you put a picture up on your blog when you get yours decorated? I could use the inspiration.
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