Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten-free)

The original recipe I used called for regular, unbleached white flour. To make these gluten-free, I am substituting Pamela's artisan flour blend. Some day I may be brave enough to pull together my own gluten-free flour, but at this point I'd rather use the Pamela's and get used to how gluten-free flours work.

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 bananas, peeled and mashed
3 1/2 cups rolled oats*
1 1/4 cup Pamela's artisan flour blend
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and mix well.
Add the bananas and rolled oats, mix thoroughly.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Add to wet ingredients, 1/2 cup at a time and continue to mix until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop dough by tablespoonful on baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart, and bake 12-15 minutes at 350F.

This is a heavy batter, so I used my KitchenAid stand mixer. Also, I used regular rolled oats, but I imagine that quick oats would be okay for these recipe.

This recipe is adapted from the recipe for Banana Oatmeal Cookies in Extending the Table: Recipes and Stories from Argentina to Zambia, in the spirit of More-with-Less, p312.

~ ENJOY!

Mama's Shortbread Cookies

I love discovering new recipes and I was excited to see that Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living is hosting a weekly Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

This is a repost of my mom's go-to cookie recipe for every holiday and occasion.  They are easy to make, don't need eggs, and can be modified easily to fit the season by mixing in or adding on top sprinkles, chips, nuts, or candy.  Most important?  They are melt-in-your-mouth good!

Today I made the traditional short-bread dough and added mini chocolate chips. I dropped them onto the stone using my smallest scoop. Perfect little munchies for my girls' classes at church tonight. :)

MAMA'S BASIC SHORTBREAD DOUGH

Ingredients
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 lb butter (4 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Directions
Preheat oven to 325F.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.
Using a mixer, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla to a smooth consistency.
Add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time to butter mixture - use a low setting on your mixture - until all flour is mixed.
Drop by the spoon/scoopful onto a cookie sheet or baking stone.
Bake for 20 minutes at 325F.

To change things up, stir in any kind of chip, nut, or sprinkle you'd like to use. I mixed in one bag of mini chocolate chips for the batch in the picture. (YUM!) My mama likes to make them with pecans mixed in or with a Hersheys' Kiss pressed into the center. At Christmas time, the kiddos and I make some with colored jimmies mixed in and others we'll roll in sprinkles or jimmies and then bake. Use your imagination!

ENJOY!

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I made these for my niece's baby shower.  I bought a jar of baby blue and white shimmer colored 'pearls' at Hobby Lobby and mixed them in a bowl.  Roll the dough (I used my tablespoon Pampered Chef scoop) and press into the sprinkles, smash with fingers, and then place on the cookie sheet.  The picture on the right is how they look in finished form- beautiful AND yummy!

Peanut Butter Brownies

From Cooking with the Horse & Buggy People II

• 3/4 cup shortening


• 3/4 cup peanut butter


• 2 1/4 cups sugar


• 5 eggs


• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla


• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 3/4 tsp salt


• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips


• 3/4 cup chopped peanuts

Put in a 10x15 pan at 350F for 30 minutes.

Food ~ My First Recognized Hidden Art

Confession. Growing up I thought I was a 100% left-brained, math whiz, without a stitch of anything artistic in my bones. I had help thinking that. My family told me so. Frequently. Yet, all these artistic ideas were whirling around in my brain. I didn't know how to get them out and, even worse, I was afraid to tell anyone about them.

The first time I filled my creative need I made spaghetti sauce from a recipe in The New Basics Cookbook. The fact that I even owned such a cool cookbook was amazing. It was actually a huge matter of chance. I had bought a copy as part of a wedding gift for a college friend. On our way to the wedding, my dear husband and I got stranded at the airport for five hours (we could have driven to the wedding faster, but I digress...) What else was there to do but read this fascinating cookbook? I was so enthralled that as soon as we got home from the trip I went out and bought the cookbook. Several months later I was no longer merely enthralled, I WAS ENCOURAGED and my culinary adventures began. To this day, I find my most creative spirit in the kitchen, so you can expect lots of food posts and pictures on this blog.

I think the chapter on cooking is what drew me to Mrs. Schaeffer in the first place. I knew I had a creative spirit, I just hadn't found the courage (or had the encouragement) to explore and develope my Hidden Art. When I read the chapter and realized that I had been doing just that all along in my cooking, I suddently had the encouragement I needed to try new areas. I also started playing the piano more, joined a choir, and bought a new alto recorder. No, I'm no virtuoso, but making music gives me pleasure!

As an adult, I now realize that I was a repressed RIGHT-brained person. I really hate math and logic.

Anyhoo, there is a point to all of this. I love to try new recipes in my kitchen and thought I'd share this recipe that my sister and I searched for after buying a couple at a Mennonite shop near where I live. This bar is a wonderful marriage of vanilla cake with creamy chocolate filling. YUM!


Can't Leave 'em Alone Bars (picture above)

1 box WHITE (not yellow) cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup semi-sweet
chocolate chips

• Stir together the cake mix, eggs, and oil.


• Press mixture into the bottom of a 9"x13" pan, saving about 1/4 of the mixture for topping.


• Melt butter, condensed milk, and chocolate chips together in the microwave in a glass bowl. (Be conservative... nuke for 15 seconds, stir, nuke another 15 sec, stir, etc. until mixture is creamy chocolate.)


• Pour this over the top of the cake mixture.


• Sprinkle remaining cake mixture on top.


• Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 deg F. The top of the cake should be nicely browned.