Pepparkakor -Guest Baker Melissa

1/3 C Dark Corn Syrup
1/3 C Heavy Cream
1 C Sugar
1/2 lb Butter or Margarine, softened

3 1/2 C Flour
2 tsp Cloves
2 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Bk Soda

-Stir first set of ingredients.
-Sift dry ingreds, then mix with first set.
-Refrigerate 1+hrs, then roll out dough onto lightly floured board to 1/8in thickness.
-Bake at 375 for 4 minutes, or until golden brown.

Buttercream Frosting
6 Tb Butter, soft
4 C Powdered Sugar
3 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
Cream, as needed

- Beat together til desired consistency.

Auntie Mel whipped up this cute little army of cookie men over Christmas, and their flavor (and scent!) was so good!

Y: The batch made three cookie sheets, packed full. Mmmmmm!

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 1/2 C flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 C quick oats
2 tsp salt
2 tsp bk soda

1 1/2 C br sugar
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C butter, softened
1 C shortening
4 eggs
2 tsp real vanilla
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 C mini milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 C m & ms

-Mix first set of ingreds together well.
-In separate bowl cream sugars, butter, and shortening.
-Mix eggs lightly in a separate bowl, then add to sugar mix with vanilla until creamy.
-Add in dry ingreds and start to add in chips and m&ms once dry ingreds are mostly mixed, but not totally worked in.
-Chill dough at least one hour in fridge.
-Chill baking sheets or make sure they are not hot anymore before placing dough on sheets.
-Scoop and drop big tablespoons full onto pans and bake at 400 for 7-8 min, until lightly golden brown (might look underdone).
-Let sit on pan ~ 1 min and remove.
-Do not overbake or leave on pan too long, or cookies won't be as thick.

Y: 6 dozen

Note: These are probably the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had turn out. Often mine are thin and crispy, which I don't care for. I'm kind of a cc cookie lover and am always looking for a great recipe. This one will definitely be a keeper...lots of chunks, nice thickness and chewy...ahhh 10/10!:) Recipe adapted from here...

The Best Neighborhood Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our sweet neighbors brought these cookies over after we had Abraham...yummy!

2 1/4 C flour
1/2 C quick oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bk soda

3/4 C br sugar
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C chocolate chips (Ghiradelli's recommended) plus a little more if desired
1 C walnuts (optional)

-Mix first set of ingreds together well.
-In separate bowl mix sugars, butter, shortening...then add eggs and vanilla until creamy.
-Add in dry ingreds.
-Add in chips and nuts (Connie recommends Ghiradelli chips and leaving walnuts whole and letting your mixer break them up a bit).
-Chill dough at least one hour in fridge.
-Bake at 375 for 10-11 min on baking stone.

Y: 3 doz

Notes from the Baker...Use a scoop to make cookies uniform in size (hers is ~ 4tsp). Do not overbake. Adapt for your oven.

Notes from Angela...I really like these cookies and found cooking them a shorter time at 400 works best in my oven (7-8 min). That makes them thicker and chewy. I tried 350 and 375 temps and ended up with flatter, crispy cookies. I don't add nuts, and have experimented adding various chips. My absolute favorite recipe I just figured out today:). Check it out here...

Pretty Lil' Dipped Apricots

1 1/2 C dried apricots (~60)
1 square unsweetened baking chocolate
1 C semisweet chocolate chips

-Mix chocolate and melt in microwave, stirring frequently.
-Dip half of apricot in chocolate and place on wax paper-lined tray.
-Store in fridge.
-Once hardened may drizzle with white chocolate, if desired.

Y:60

A pretty (addictive:)) little treat! Recipe courtesy of Nicole! Rated 10/10

Round Steak Sandwiches

2 round steaks
~1/4 C Worcestershire Sauce
Pepper
Dried onions
Mini-sub buns
Cheese (flavor of choice)


Cut each steak into two pieces. Lay in 9x13 pan (will overlap each other). Sprinkle with dried onions to taste. Splash worc. sauce over meat. Add 1/4-1/2 in. water to bottom of pan, pouring a little over steaks to spread out sauce, but not to rinse it off. Sprinkle with pepper. Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 2 hours.

Break meat up with a fork into shredded pieces/chunks. Serve on mini-sub buns (we like wheat) with desired cheese of choice on top!

Y: Approx 12 mini-subs

We have recently been using this recipe to eat up our round steak and really like it! Very simple and really softens the tough steak. Of note, I can't eat cheese right now, so I crushed a few potato chips into the sandwich and enjoyed the crunchy variety! My vote 8/10 for simple, filling, tasty food.