The Gee Family (Kurt’s Family) and the Cherry Almond Cookies

Kurt is a great friend from high school. Kurt and his family moved to Niagara Falls when we were in ninth grade and all of the girls went CRAZY. Kurt became the instant heartthrob and the cat fights began. With most trends, I don’t usually catch on to them until about a year or two after everyone else. Well the Kurt trend was no exception. I waited my turn and then we dated. I guess maybe he was worth the wait. Anyway, regardless of what happened in the past Kurt is still someone I consider a very close friend and someone I know is always there for me. Right now Kurt is living in California with his beautiful wife Wendy and their two adorable kids, Maddie and Austin. And although California is a great place, there are a bunch of people, myself included, who would love if they lived just a tad bit closer. I have to admit I was a little nervous sending them cookies because Wendy is an amazing baker and I am sure mine don’t quite compare, so here’s hoping they aren’t too bad!!! Enjoy!!!


Cherry Almond Cookies
Makes about 100 cookies
Ingredients:
Cookies:
-1 ½ Cup Marchino Cherries, Drained and Chopped (You can save some juice to add to frosting)
-7 ½ Cup Flour
-1 ½ Cup Sugar
-3 Cup Cold Butter
-1 Bag (2 Cups) White Chocolate Chips
-1 ½ teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
-1 teaspoon Cherry Extract


Almond Frosting
4 cups sifted powder sugar
4 Tablespoons softened butter
1 teaspoon almond extract
5-6 teaspoons milk
Add Marchino Cherry Juice for coloring is desired.
Beat until smooth, add more milk if needed to make it more spreadable.


Directions:
-WARNING: This recipe makes a lot of dough so make sure you have a big enough bowl.
-Slightly soften butter, although you still want it somewhat hard.
-Cream butter.
-Add sugar. Mix until thoroughly mixed. Gradually add other ingredients. I did the cherries next, then the extracts, and then the white chocolate chips. Mixing in between each ingredient.
-Finally add the flour to the mix, about 1 cup at a time.
-Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
-Remove cookies from tray and place on cooling rack directly from oven.
-Allow cookies to cool.
-Mix frosting ingredients. The Marchino Cherry juice can be added for coloring if desired so use as much or as little as you want.
-Heat the frosting in the microwave if you want it thinner and easier to use. Place frosting in plastic Ziploc bag and cut the tip off of one of the bottom corners.
-Drizzle the frosting over the cookies. Let sit to allow frosting to harden.

The Adams' Fluffernutter Cookies

The Adams, Matty and Marisa, are some friends from middle/high school. They are high school sweethearts, they even won best couple in our graduating class. And when they got married this past July they proved to everybody that they deserved the title of best couple!!! (Not to mention that their reception was a blast with ALL music from the 90s so needless to say I had A LOT of fun!!!) Matty and Marisa are both extremely caring and thoughtful people and are always there if you need them. Although we have drifted apart a little over the past few years, I still consider them great friends. I know that if I ever need them they are there for me, and I hope they know the same about me!!! Now I have to explain the cookies a little… I was just stumbling through some recipes on-line and I came across these ones and knew they would be perfect for The Adams (still feels a little weird to say that lol). The reason being that every year Matty still has a HUGE birthday party with bounce houses, games, and food we loved as kids- including Fluffernutter Sandwiches. (Peanut Butter and Fluff for those of you who don’t know what they are, although shame on you for not knowing!!!) So when I saw a recipe for a Fluffernutter cookie I had to make these cookies for them… here’s hoping they enjoy them!!!!


Fluffernutter Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 jar Fluff (marshmallow cream)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter and sugars together until creamy and smooth.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
4. Add the salt and baking soda. Stir until mixed together.
5. Spoon dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Place the cookie dough balls on the greased baking sheets, about two inches apart.
6. With your thumb, press down the dough ball to make a puddle in the middle of each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove baking sheets from the oven. Press down the cookies with your thumb again. Do this quickly because the cookies will be hot (really hot apparently- ouch!!!!!!!). Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for two minutes.
7. Move cookies to a wire rack and cool. Once cool, take a spoonful of Fluff (marshmallow cream) and fill the center of the peanut butter cookies. The Fluff (marshmallow cream) will be sticky, but try to smooth it out as best as you can. Fill all of the cookies and serve.

**** No changes to this recipe****

“Little” Fred and The Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

To call my favorite stepbrother “Little” Fred at this point is probably one of the biggest oxymoron statements ever!!! While at one time “Little” Fred was a short, scrawny, boy he has grown into an extremely tall, still pretty skinny, and handsome man. Fred is a die-hard Buffalo and Notre Dame fan. Come rain, snow, blizzard, or freezing temperatures, on Sunday you will find him down in the 100s at Ralph Wilson. And on Saturdays you will either find him on a road trip to an ND game or at Gadawski’s watching it with the rest of the family. Fred is one of the sweetest, kindest, and funniest men I know. He always knows how to make you feel better whether it’s through a joke, a hug, or completely bashing the person who has hurt you (the last one is always my favorite). Anyway, I love my stepbrother very much and am so thankful to have him in my life. In an attempt to try and make Fred gain some weight (although all previous attempts have failed) I tried to pick a fattening recipe. Enjoy!!!


Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
By: BUCHKO
"These cookies have a sweet peanut butter cup center."
Original Recipe Yield 40 cookies

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls (about ¾” diameter) and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

***Additions/Changes***
1. I unwrapped the mini PB cups and placed them in the freezer for a while so they wouldn’t melt as I was putting them into the cookies.
2. I refrigerated the dough for about an hour before rolling the balls so the dough would be easier to work with.
3. I did not have a mini-muffin pan so I just placed the dough balls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Lastly, I placed the cookie sheets in the refrigerator after they came out of the oven for about 7 minutes before putting the cookies on the cooling rack.

The (Continual) House of Good Lovin’

I have to admit I can’t technically remember how the name The House of Good Lovin’, or HOGL for short, even got started but it is definitely one that stuck with us and even followed us when we moved to another apartment. The were the original founders of the HOGL- Winter, Leslie, Katie-A, Amber, and myself, but there were plenty of girls who gained membership into the group once they moved into a founders space in the house… Carrie, Stewy, and Melanie. There was seriously a revolving door on the HOGL and I made some of my best friends because of that. Anyway, since there are SEVEN girls I need to write about for this one I’m gonna keep the blurbs kinda short. I am just going to mention one of my favorite memories (by the way it was very very hard just picking one) I have from each of the girls and hopefully they will still all know how much I love them and how much their friendship means to me….


Winter: I remember that Christmas that I had a horrible earache and we laid our mattress’ in the living room and you took care of me. And when you did have to leave for a little while you left the Law & Order marathon on for me.

Leslie: My favorite memory has to be we went shooting with your friends and got to blow things up. Of course with that memory comes my interpretation of how a gun actually sounds…. Pewwwwwwwwwww pewwwwwwwwwww!!!

Amber: I know this sounds funny but I remember on Sunday mornings you would walk around “scantily clad” (or at least as much as you could). I just thought that was so funny and loved that you were just so comfortable.

Katie-A: I think my favorite memory/memories was/were our summer of Bees games. I remember dragging you to so many of those games that summer. I especially remember the never-ending but AMAZING game and when that old coach gave me a baseball. Hahaha!

Carrie: Anytime I had the chance to listen to you sing… honestly you are AMAZING!!! I think my favorite was your CD release party (at least I think that was what it was)… you rocked it on the stage and we had tons of fun dancing!!!

Stewy: Just before both of us were about to leave Utah we were driving in your car and listening to “The Call” by Regina Spektor. It was such a fitting song for the time, with both of us leaving, that we both started crying. To this day whenever I hear that song I think of you!!!

Melanie: Playing Quiddler and eating your dad’s cornbread at your parents’ house with your family and especially Freaky.



Soft Gingersnaps
By: Shawn Barto
"With molasses and spices, these cookies deliver the old-fashioned flavor everyone loves. --Shawn Barto, Clermont, Florida"

Original Recipe Yield 66 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter (no substitutes), softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Additional sugar

Directions
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and nutmeg; gradually add to creamed mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.
Roll into 1-in. balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-12 minutes ( 11 minutes seemed to be perfect for my oven) or until puffy and lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.

****I actually did not change anything to this recipe and the cookies came out pretty damn good!!!****

The Peters’ Clan and the Sweetheart Cookies

This really isn’t too hard but see if you can follow (since there will be a quiz at the end... haha just kidding). Sandy, the mother of the Peters’ clan, is my Aunt Sharon’s, my mom’s sister, sister-in-law. But whenever I talk about the Peters family, I always just say “Oh she’s my other aunt” or “They are my ‘cousins’” because really we act more like family than probably some families do. We have gone on vacations together, get pedicures on a regular basis, Darien Lake, swimming, tutoring, sleepovers, YANKEES games, and so much more!!! Now let me just say a little something about each person: Bob is hilarious and a dedicated father, Boo is someone I can tell ANYTHING to and an amazing mother, Danny is probably one of the most responsible college kids I know- I’m not saying he doesn’t have fun but he also always does what is asked of him, Katie is an incredible dancer and extremely caring, and Jaco (Jacob) is an awesome hockey player and sweet young man!!! If any family deserves these cookies, it is the Peters!!!!!!!!

Sweetheart Cookies
By: Taste of Home's Fast Family Favorites
"These rounds filled with fruit preserves were blue-ribbon winners at a New Jersey county fair."

Original Recipe Yield 2 dozen

Ingredients
• 3/4 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons raspberry or strawberry preserves
• confectioners' sugar (optional)

Directions
1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk; mix well. Stir in the flour by hand. On a lightly floured surface, gently knead dough for 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly combined. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indention in the center of each. Fill each with 1/4 teaspoon preserves.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks. Dust warm cookies with confectioners' sugar if desired. Cool.

*** The only changes I made were:
- Not to grease the baking sheets as the cookies were buttery/greasy enough by themselves
- Add a little more than ¼ teaspoon of preserves on each cookie

Dad, Therese, Shannon, and Danielle and The Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

The random generator must have known that if I made cookies for my mom one week it would only be fair to make cookies for my dad the next week. So this week, the Kashishian household (or at least one of the households) are getting some hopefully delicious cookies. Also I think a more appropriate title than household would be zoo. Now I am not trying to be mean here at all, and I don’t mean zoo in a crazy/chaotic kind of way, but in a ton of animals kind of way. There are (I believe) 6 dogs, 1 cat, and some fish… oh and 4 people. Needless to say there is always something going on over there haha. Anyway, the people are all wonderful, caring, and would bend over backwards for anyone. My dad has never said no to fixing a car for someone (or anything at my house too ). Therese is always there with a delicious meal for people in their times of need or really any day of the week. Shannon knows how to make you laugh when all you want to do is cry. And Danielle is always there with sweet and kind words and a hug for you when you the laughing just didn’t make it better. Like I said they are all great people and I love them all!!!



Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
By: Debbi Borsick
"Everybody wants this recipe when I take them in for a carry-in. To make them award winning, my daughter, Tegan, made them for a cookie baking contest and won a red ribbon! You can use any flavor pudding you like for this recipe."

Original Recipe Yield 6 dozen

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.


******As always here are my changes to the recipe:

1. I cut this recipe in half… it just seemed like a lot of cookies for four people haha.
2. As always, no nuts!!!
3. One baker suggested for the original recipe to the 2 teaspoons of vanilla to 2 tablespoons, and adding ½ teaspoon of salt… so when I halved the recipe I ended up putting in 1 tablespoon of vanilla and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
4. I also only cooked the cookies for about 9 to ensure they were more chewy than crispy.

My Mommy & Fred and the Scottish Shortbread Cookies

Well what can I say about my Mommy and Fred??? Here is one of those posts where if I am not careful I will go on for pages and pages and probably still will not have said a lot of the things I would’ve wanted to. So in an effort to keep it short and sweet I am just going to list words that describe them (most of them will apply to both of them but let’s see if you can pick which ones are only one of them  ). Anyway, here we go… amazing, loving, helpful, caring, hairy, extraordinary, best friend, fun, genuine, smart, smart-ass, respectful, sports nut, wonderful parents, even better grandparents, hilarious, beautiful, and most importantly MINE!!! I am so lucky to have them both in my life and I am thankful for that every single day!!! I love them more than words could possibly describe!!! I hope these cookies can represent an incredibly small token of how much I love them and appreciate all that they have done for me!!!! So please enjoy the cookies, and enjoy your cruise (yeah they are going on a cruise Monday for their 20th Anniversary- sooooooooooooo jealous of, I mean excited for, them!!!)

Scottish Shortbread IV
By: Linda
"This is the most basic cookie recipe there is. Real butter and brown sugar give it an irresistible flavor."

Original Recipe Yield 4 dozen


Ingredients
2 cups butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Cream butter and brown sugar. Add 3 to 3 3/4 cups flour. Mix well.
3. Sprinkle board with the remaining flour. Knead for 5 minutes, adding enough flour to make a soft dough. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 3x1 inch strips. Prick with fork and place on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.


Here are a couple of the suggestions I tried:
1. It suggested to soften the butter (not melt) before creaming with the sugar.
2. I cut the flour to 4 cups instead of the 4 ½ cups… many of the bakers suggested this one.
3. Instead of kneading or rolling the dough I just took golf-ball sized balls and placed them on an ungreased sheet. I then made a thumbprint in the middle of the cookie. (Yeah that suggestion was tried because it sounded a HELL of a lot easier haha!!!)
4. I also sprinkled some powdered sugar on top of the cookies right after they came out of the oven. I did this so it would melt right into the cookie and it would give it just a little bit of a sweeter taste (I mean when is sweeter ever a bad thing???)

"The Asians" and the Chinese New Year Chocolate Cookies

*** Disclaimer: Anyone reading this blog who needs to understand that it is in no way racist! “The Asians” mentioned in this blog were a self-titled group of friends from Utah and not some name I came up with. Having said that…..

“The Asians” were well Asian, at least in one way or another. Most of their “Asianess” was obvious, while one (Taben) was not so much. Taben served his mission in Thailand and therefore was admitted membership into the exclusive group. This group was self-governed and depending on offenses committed, members’ level of “Asianess” could be decreased or even terminated, although they were always able to earn it back. Anyway, enough about the group and now let’s move onto its members. Dennis is a great friend who you could always count on for anything. He was a pretty good date too haha! Dwain is one of the sweetest guys ever and would bend over backwards for anyone. Spencer is hilarious and incredibly sweet. Although if you let him get to second base he makes really weird faces. And last but certainly not least, there’s Taben. Taben is an amazing friend who could always make me laugh and sometimes made me cry bbbbbbbwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! As a side note there was at least one other member of the group but she is more so a member of another group that will be mentioned in another blog. Anyway, I love these guys tons and miss them all the time. Enjoy these most appropriately named cookies……


Chinese New Year Chocolate Cookies
By: SAMMEIY
"An easy recipe to make!"
Original Recipe Yield 2 dozen


Ingredients
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups butterscotch chips
• 2 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts
• 4 cups chow mein noodles


Directions
1. Butter a 9x13 inch dish.
2. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in peanuts. Stir in noodles until all is well coated. Press into prepared dish. Chill until set; cut into squares.


*** Here are my changes:
1. As noted by another baker it would be hard to cut this into squares as they tend to fall apart so I instead scooped them into heaping tablespoon sized piles.
2. I also doubled the recipe so that my boys would have enough  and it did come out to be exactly 4 dozen cookies.

The Davis’ and the “Cute” Cut-Outs

The Davis’ (still feels weird not to say Gadawski) family is well just that family. Sarah is my oldest (sorry Sarah- had to distinguish which one you were lol) stepsister. Sarah is an amazing person/mother/wife/dentist/sailor (navy not boat- although maybe she can sail a boat too). She met her husband Mike (the Journey king- don’t stop believin’ Mike) in dental school. Most importantly they have two absolutely beautiful daughters Genevieve and most recently Georgette. It is kind of hard because they live in Seattle so I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I want to… Genevieve was a baby the last time I saw her and unfortunately I have yet to meet Georgette (I know this is partly my fault, and I HOPE to fly out there within the next year- I think I am ready for that lol). Anyway, luckily they take lots of pictures and lots of other family members travel out there so I get to “see” the girls a lot and hear about what’s going on with them. In fact my stepfather is actually flying out there today so their cookies are being hand-delivered, unfortunately they still needed to be packed and therefore they faces got a little smeared. Hopefully Genevieve will be allowed to taste them, not just look at them, as they are sugar cookies and BOTH of her parents are dentists. I guess we shall see, I’ve got my finger crossed for you Genevieve…I have a feeling Papi will find a way to sneak one to you!!!

Sugar Cookie Cutouts
By: GLJCAT 
"I found this to be the best sugar cookie recipe for cutouts! very good flavor even without the frosting."
Original Recipe Yield 6 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup colored sugar for decoration

Directions
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour and baking powder, stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the heavy cream. Cover dough, and chill for 2 to 3 hours, until firm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

*** I didn’t really make too many changes to this one but here are the ones I did***
I doubled the amount of vanilla as suggested by someone else.
I omitted the colored sugar and instead split the dough in half before chilling and added orange food coloring to ½ and black to the other ½.
I am not sure exactly how many cookies I ended up making and they were probably a little thicker than ¼ inch but nonetheless they worked out just fine!!!

The Pendergast’s (and Darren) and Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tim and I go have had a very interesting relationship over the years. It started with him bullying me, turned into something more, and has ended up in a great friendship. Tim is truly one of my best friends. I know I can always count on him and hope he knows he can do the same with me. Tim currently lives near Albany and is a high school math teacher. He has an amazing wife, Sarah, who I absolutely adore. They met in college at Fredonia. They have a dog “Chip” (sorry guys but I cannot remember his entire long ass name), and they have a Darren too (hahaha). Darren is a friend of theirs from college who is currently residing with them in Albany. Anyway, they are all awesome people and I hope they enjoy their little treat!



Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
By: Kathy Bliesner
"These cookies are really chewy and addictive."

Original Recipe Yield 2 dozen

Ingredients
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

*** The only thing I changed to this recipe was the size of the cookies. Instead of ¼ cupfuls I used large tablespoons and cooked them for approximately 10 minutes. The recipe ended up making 2.5 dozen instead of two (I guess I didn’t make the cookies too much smaller- but they seemed like a good size).

The Piccirillo’s and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ahhhh Kelly and Seth Piccirillo…. some very close friends who I am so glad I got the chance become acquainted/reacquainted with a few years back. Kelly is an amazing first grade teacher at a school that I miss dearly. While teaching was a second career for Kelly, there is not a better, nor a more picturesque, first grade teacher than Kelly. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and she cares so much for the kids she works with. Anyone that has come into contact with her loves her! Everyone describes her as “cute”, I guess being under 5 feet tall kinda makes cute the descriptor of choice, and it “fits” (hahaha) her perfectly. As for Seth, we go way back…. I will not divulge here as to how I know him but if you ever get the chance to run into him I suggest you asking how we first met. As a disclaimer, we were very young kids so don’t think anything gross! I am glad we got the chance to connect again because Seth is a wonderful guy and great friend. Anyway, the Piccirillo’s are awesome and I absolutely love them!!! Here’s to many more years of friendship!!! Enjoy the cookies guys.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies III
By: Jennifer
"If you like pumpkin pie and chocolate, you'll love these cookies. I think they taste best when they are cold from the refrigerator."
Original Recipe Yield 2 dozen

Ingredients
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

***Following the advice of some of the other bakers I changed these things in the recipe:
1. Instead of using 2 teaspoons of cinnamon I used 1 tsp. of cinnamon, 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice, and 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg. I mixed the extra spices in where it said to mix in the cinnamon in the original recipe (in the dry ingredients).
2. The original recipe says it makes 2 dozen cookies, I got 2.5 dozen and they were very large (tablespoon scoops) so you can probably make them a little smaller and get more cookies. But they might not be as “cakey” as they are supposed to be.
3. One of the bakers suggested that after scooping the cookies onto the sheets to kinda pick up the sheet and bang it on the counter a few times, I guess this makes the dough settle a little closer to the tray. I guess it worked for mine.
4. Also after taking the cookies out of the oven I let them firm up on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to the wire rack.
5. I omitted the walnuts… sorry nut-lovers but I am for some reason biased against nuts!!!

The Carletons and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Carletons are some of my favorite people out in Utah, and I cannot even describe how much I miss them. They were like my parents out there… not in that tell you what to do and yell at you kind of way but more in constantly looking out for you, wanting the best for you, there to talk to you, always loving you kind of way!!! I know that I could turn to them for anything and if they couldn’t fix they always found a way to make me feel better. They were also nice enough to host American Idol night every week and always let me claim the soft red blanket. I miss you guys tons and hope someday catch up on one of your trips to Vermont!!! Love you both!!!!!!!!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies I
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies-I/Detail.aspx
By: Sheryl Juergensen
"A basic, delicious cookie."

Ingredients
• 1 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl cream shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add eggs (AND VANILLA) and mix thoroughly.
3. Combine the baking soda, salt and flour and stir into creamed mixture.
4. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips and stir until well blended.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. (SEE NOTES BELOW)

*** Alright here are my changes for this recipe….
1. Added 1 teaspoon of Vanilla
2. Scooped cookies by the tablespoon not teaspoon, which of course made the cookies go from about 7 dozen to 3.5 dozen very chewy cookies
3. Cooked at 350 for 10 minutes then let cool/firm on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooking rack

The Bouchards’ Crazy Craisin Cookies

The Bouchards are some of the most fun, funny, and caring people I know. While I have tons of cousins, Mary and Mark are my only actual blood cousins. Mark is absolutely hilarious. He comes to visit for a few weeks each summer and we always have a great time. Whether it’s at Darien Lake, a Yankees game, or Dave and Busters we are always laughing. Mary and I have a lot in common, and yet she is only ABOUT half my age hahaha. I'm not sure if she is really mature or I'm not mature, I thinking probably a little bit of both! Mary is incredibly smart and even more caring. She is my Harry Potter buddy and my Twilight enemy. And she is turning out to be an absolutely amazing young woman! My Uncle Mike has always been so incredible to me and I realized that at a young age because I adopted him as my godfather when he and my aunt got married. We still have great times now, he is my “blue bomber by the pool” pal. And last but certainly not least is my Aunt Sharon. She is my mom’s sister, my middle name sake, and my go to person on so many things. It is absolutely true when they say “Only an Aunt can give hugs like a mother, can keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend." She has always been, and continues to be, all of these things to me. I honestly could not love the Bouchards any more than I already do. I wish they lived closer but I guess it always makes our time together during the summer that much more special! Love and miss you guys!!!!!!!


Oatmeal Craisin Cookies
By: Liane McKellar

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oatmeal-craisin-cookies/detail.aspx

Original Recipe Yield 4 dozen

Ingredients
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions
1. Beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla for 5 minutes. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time.
2. Mix in raisins and craisins.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). These freeze very well. Enjoy!!

*** A few side notes…
- I used 2 cups craisins instead of 1 cup raisins and 1 cup craisins
- I made a little over 3 dozen cookies instead of 4 dozen, I guess I prefer bigger, softer cookies
- I cooked the cookies for about 13 minutes and they still came out a little chewy since they were a little larger than the recipe indicated.

Bryan and Ella and the Funfetti Cookie Sandwiches

If you know me than you know how much I love my baby brother and my beautiful niece. I could honestly go on for pages and pages writing about how wonderful I think they are. For your sake, I am not going to do that. I am going to keep it short and simple. I absolutely adore Ella and Bryan (and yeah probably in that order haha) and love them both more than anything else in this world. Bryan is such a wonderful man and an amazing father!!! And he’s a pretty good roommate too . Ella is my life!!! Plain and simple. I don’t know what I would do without her. She is so smart, so funny, and maybe just a little bit crazy too but that makes me love her even more. I know some people say that you don’t know what love is until you’ve loved your own child but I know that I love Ella as much as I would my own child. She is my baby girl!!! Alright well before I get too carried away I am just gonna end it with this, Bryan and Ella- I love you!!!

Now as for the cookies, Bryan really wanted funfetti cookies (I guess one of the perks of living with me is that he repeatedly told me what cookies he wanted- and sorry that’s the only request I will grant). However, I felt like funfetti cookies were kinda cheating being that a majority of the recipe comes from a boxed mix. So I decided I would make cookie sandwiches and make my own filling for them, in order to make them a little more homemade. I’ve never made frosting before so I am a little nervous about how it will taste, and let’s be honest Ella is going to tell me EXACTLY what she thinks about them so the pressure is on. Anyway here we go, fingers crossed!!!

Cakespy: Funfetti Cake Mix Cookie Sandwiches ( http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/02/cakespy-funfetti-cake-mix-cookie-sandwiches-betty-crocker-recipe.html )

Ingredients
For the cookies:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 package funfetti or rainbow chip cake mix

For the filling:
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

***Optional: Sprinkles (for rolling around the middle of the cookie where the frosting is)

Procedures
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Note: the original cookie recipe called for 8 to 10 minutes at 375°F, but I found that baking slightly longer at 350°F worked better for my cookies.

3. Cream the butter and cream cheese. Blend in egg and vanilla.

4. Add cake mix in two parts, mixing well (it will be a super thick batter—if it is too stiff, add a small quantity of heavy cream to the batter and mix well).

5. Using a small cookie scoop (Laura speaking here- I did not have a small cookie scoop so I used a tablespoon to measure out the dough) drop balls of cookie dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Leave about 2 inches between the cookies.

6. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. (Laura again- it seemed to take about at least 12 minutes for my cookies).

7. Cool cookies for at least 15 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack; the cookies are very delicate when they first come out of the oven and they will break if you try to transfer them too soon.

8. Once completely cool, add a generous dollop of filling to the bottom of half the cookies, and then sandwich the rest of the cookies on top to form something that vaguely resembles a whoopie pie, but tastes like something else entirely. (Laura yet again- I have absolutely no idea what a whoopie pie is…)

*** I also rolled the cookies in sprinkles so that the sprinkles stuck to the sides of the filling in the middle***

Andy and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I

Andrea “Andy” is one of my favorite cousins and best friends. She is the most amazing 21 year old woman that I have ever met. Andy has the biggest heart and is always serving other people. She not only did she volunteer 3 summers at an orphanage in Poland but she is currently volunteering for an entire year at a woman’s shelter in Arizona. I personally was rooting for Andy to be in Ohio because I knew I would miss her way too much, but I know that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her. So I have to put my selfishness aside and try to be happy for her. Andy is a die-hard Sabre and Notre Dame fan (as every Gadawski must be) and will kick your ass if you talk badly about them. I miss Andy so much and am literally counting down the days (333) until she comes back home

It was somewhat easy to pick a recipe for Andy’s cookies because she doesn’t like, wait let me rephrase that, she will not eat fruits or vegetables, so choosing a chocolate chocolate chip seemed only natural!!! Enjoy Andy- love you!!!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I by: KATHY
(http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies-i/detail.aspx )

"These cookies are great...you get a double dose of chocolate! My kids love them."

Original Recipe Yield 4 dozen
Ingredients
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

*** I used the following alternate suggestions for this recipe***
1. Instead of 1 ½ Cups White Sugar, I used 1 Cup White Sugar and ½ Cup Brown Sugar
2. I did not use the walnuts (I guess I just don’t like nuts and usually don’t put them in…. sorry guess maybe I should start- but I thought Andy wouldn’t want them in this one)
3. I let the dough cool in the fridge for an hour before baking the cookies.
4. I made the cookies a little larger, only made 3 dozen instead of 4, and cooked them for approximately 10 minutes. They turned out so soft!!!

Danny-L and The Whole Jar of Peanut Butter Cookies

Although the list was randomly ordered by a computer program, it seems fitting that the first person chosen was one of my oldest (not age-wise but duration of friendship-wise) friends Danny-L, or Danielle as most of you call her. We became friends in elementary school and it didn't take long before we were inseparable. We have been through everything together, both good (like volleyball, cross-country vacations, all of the boyfriends/husband) and the bad (illness', deaths, heartbreak (Open Arms was our favorite post-break up song hahaha)).Danny-L currently works... well I can't really tell you where she works only that it is down in DC and involves a few letters of the alphabet. She lives down in Virginia with her husband Matt, stepdaughter Bailey, and soon-to-be son Holden. Holden in due to grace us with his presence on October 17th and I could not be more happy to meet him. He will be a very lucky little guy because he will have one of the most amazing mommies in the world. Hopefully both he and his mommy will enjoy the cookies that I made for them... (like that casual segue to the cookie portion of the blog- although I guess its a little less casual since I pointed it out hahaha).


The Whole Jar of Peanut Butter Cookies By: Kevin Ryan
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-whole-jar-of-peanut-butter-cookies/detail.aspx
"This cookie got its name because a whole 18-ounce jar of peanut butter is used to make it. It is the creamiest, moistest cookie I have ever had, and bound to be a favorite with anyone who makes them. Just don't over bake them!"

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (18 ounce) jar peanut butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped peanuts

***Instead of using chopped peanuts I used chunky peanut butter***

Directions
1.In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, yolks, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Stir in peanut butter. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, stir in the peanuts. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.
2.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
3.Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should look dry on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cool completely on a rack.

***According to the recipe these cookies actually taste even better when slightly undercooked so I only cooked them for 10 minutes***


Ok well the cookies are sent and the blog is written so I guess that is the post for this week. Check back next week to see if you are the lucky winner of some fabulous cookies!!!

The Beginning of Baking and Blogging

Ever since I've turned 29 I felt the urge to do things that I've never done before (mid-life crisis... man I hope not, maybe third-life crisis... yeah that sounds much better). Anyway, I started a list of 30 things I wanted to do before I'm 30, well as of right now I've only been able to come up with 12 things. While I still plan on doing the things on that list, I decided on a new "list" that I feel is a much better idea. The idea is I am going to bake a different batch of cookies each week and send them to some of my favorite people, couples, and families. This way I get to: improve my baking skills- which let's be honest need some serious help, show the people I love how much they mean to me, and blog about something (let's face it, this is the most exciting thing I've got going in my life right now haha). In this blog, I will post the recipe of the cookies I baked for the week and about the "lucky" (or unlucky depending on how the cookies turn out) person/couple/family who received them. So far I have picked out my recipients- which was an extremely difficult task and hopefully no one will feel left out. Once I decided on the people, I put the names into a random generator so that the order of the recipients would be unbiased (and yes I am aware of how dorky that is!!!). The next step is to start finding some recipes. And then the baking, blogging, and delivering will begin in September and continue through June 2012. So anyway, here goes nothing....