Recipe: Pumpkin Cookies

This is from my Grandmother, Catherine Dean, a recipe she used to make for us when we were kids:

Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Combine pumpkin, sugar and oil. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Add pumpkin mixture to sifted flour mixture, along with 1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp milk. Mix well. Stir in 1 cup mini chocolate chips and 1 tsp vanilla. Drop by teaspoonful onto lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degree F. oven for 10-12 minutes.

Recipe: Oatmeal Cookies

This is from a small recipe booklet I found when we were kids, probably from a magazine or something that found its way to our house. It was called "Create-a-Cookie" because it can be many different flavors by changing a few ingredients.

Again, this is by far the best oatmeal recipe I've come across, and has filled hundreds of bellies along the way, if not more.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups whole oats

Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add in flour, soda, salt and cinnamon by sifting in, and mix well. Stir in oats. Add in any other options you want at this point.

Drop by teaspoonsful onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 10 minutes.
Yields about 5 dozen cookies.

Some suggested extras:
chocolate chips
raisins
coconut
different flavored chips: mint, butterscotch, vanilla, etc.
anise seeds

you can also add in cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or cloves, if you like those

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now, I've baked a lot of cookies in my time, and tried many recipes. This one is from my childhood friend, Jill. She and her sister used to live across the street and would come over and make cookies in our very tiny kitchen. This recipe truly is the best chocolate chip recipe I've ever had or made. But, as Lavarr likes to say (if you have kids, you'd recognize this reference), "don't take my word for it!"

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 1 tsp HOT water
1 cup flour
12 oz chocolate chips
2 cups nuts, chopped

Cream butter and the sugars together. Add eggs, vanilla and salt and mix together. Stir in 1 1/4 cup flour. Add baking soda mixture. Fold in 1 cup flour and stir together. Add in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by teaspoonsful onto greased, foil-lined cookie sheets, 2 inches apart. Flatten balls with wet spoon back to about 1/2" thick.

Bake at 375 degrees F. in upper third of oven about 12 minutes.

Store in airtight container, makes about 4 1/2 dozen 3" cookies