cookie recipe: one

I received a cookie cook book from a lovely family for a wedding gift two years ago. It is hard to believe that I have been married for two years already. It is even harder to believe that I have had this cookbook for two years and have never used it to make cookies! Well, no I am making up for lost time. I have decided to cook all one hundred cookie recipes in this wonderful book:

Thank you Betty Crocker.

So here is the recipe for Peanutty Granola Cookies:

 Ingredients: 1 box butter recipe yellow cake mix (with pudding in mix), 1/2 cup butter (softened), 2 eggs, 4 sweet and salty peanut granola bars, 1/2 cup peanut butter chips and 1 1/2 teaspoons shortening

Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl beat cake mix, butter and eggs.

With electric mixer mix on medium speed until smooth or if you don't have one (like me) you can just whip a fork through it as fast as you can until your arm gets tired. Repeat. You are done when you can't do it anymore!

Coarsely chop your 4 granola bars.

Add them to the bowl and mix it in.

On ungreased cookie sheet, drop mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. 

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set and light golden brown around edges. Let cool for 2 minutes.

Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.

In a baggie, place peanut butter chips and shortening. Microwave on high for 15 seconds at a time. Squeeze bag. Continue microwaving in small increments; squeeze bag until mixture is smooth.

Cut a tiny corner of the baggie off and then drizzle over the cookies. Let stand for about 10 minutes or until the drizzle is set.

YUMMY!

Now, this will make about 32 cookies according to the recipe. Mine made 36! I had all these plans to take them to work and send some with Chad to share... the bottoms of the cookie were "crisp". I tend to have this problems with my oven. I will probably try cooking them on a lower temp next time. So Chad and I enjoyed many crisp cookies. I am going to do this one again when I figure out my oven. They were way to good not to share!

juliebean

i love wood blocks

I feel like a child all over again. I am having way too much fun playing with wood blocks. I know the patient men at Lowe's are getting tired of me coming in and asking them to cut long pieces of wood into 10 inch segments! I am so glad they cooperate though! I spent a lot of time over the past several months making these blocks for my senior girls that just graduated and went off to college (girls, if you haven't gotten yours yet... surprise... you should very soon). The verse on them, Micah 6:8 was one that was reinforced often in their senior bible study. I had lots of fun making these in lots of different colors. I was going to post a picture of just one (but that is no fun), so here they ALL are for your enjoyment!

Now I am about to get adventurous and branch out! I am going to start making blocks for my favorite time of the year. The three best holidays are on the way! Watch out for the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas fun to come!

juliebean

where to start

I was driving home from my dear friend Kaitlyn's wedding shower today and I decided to start what I thought about starting several years ago.

I have recently been "crafting" more than normal. My craft supplies begin to take over the kitchen table, then the kitchen counter, then the office, until Chad starts dropping hints about my messiness. I love it when I can give those gifts to family, friends, or the sweet girls that I mentor. They give the "ohhs and ahhs" with huge smiles on their faces. I think that is what drives me to be more creative. Not to impress but to see smiles on their faces when they receive something that was made specifically for them.

So from here on out this blog will be a little of everything. I like to cook and would prefer to cook something new every time that I pull out my wonderful pots and pans. The millions of times I have said, "ohhh, I want to cook that!" will begin to be recorded along the way. I received a cookbook from a wedding shower that has recipes for 100 different types of cookies. I have recently said that I am going to make every cookie in the cookbook. Some of you might be so lucky to be a recipient of the good recipes (because the Lord knows that I don't need to eat them all). We will see how far I get in that endeavor!

Who knows what will show up! Who knows how much I will post! I am just excited that I finally created the blog and wrote the first post! So here goes all things juliebean!