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!!!