White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I was invited to a Cookie Exchange by a dear friend and promised to make these cookies.  They always get rave reviews when I take them anywhere and tend to make them most as soon as the holiday season starts.  I can't wait to bake the first batch this year!

What kind of cookie is your favorite this time of year???

Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white chocolate chips
Directions
1 Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl using an electric mixer combine the sugar, brown sugar and butter; mix well to cream together.
3. Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
4. Add the cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour and mix well.
5. Fold in the oatmeal, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips- making sure that all ingredients are uniformly distributed.
6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place 3 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes, just until the edges are lightly golden.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Cranberry Apple Crisp

One of my absolute favorite fall recipes.  I also love to tell myself it's healthy because there is fruit in it ;)  It works as a dessert, as a sweet breakfast or as a base for a nice scoop of ice cream!

Cranberry Apple Crisp
Serves about 10

Ingredients:
2 cups cranberries
3 cups sliced, peeled apples
1 cup sugar
1 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 c light brown sugar
1 c quick cooking oats
1/2 cup flour
5 T room temp butter

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Turn in to a greased
9x13 baking dish.  Mix together the remaining ingredients to make the
topping.  Pour over top of the fruit mixture.  Bake at 325 for 45-60
minutes or until top if brown and crispy and fruit is tender.

Pumpkin Cookies with Butterscotch Chips

I have no idea where my Grandma got this recipe, but it's one of my all-time fall favorites.
Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies
Makes about 24- 30 cookies
Ingredients:
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c shortening
1 egg
1 c pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 cup flour
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cream together first three ingredients.
- Add the next 6 ingredients & blend together.
- Stir in flour until just mixed together.
- Add chips last.
- Drop by rounded spoonful on to a greased cookie sheet (or use a silicon baking mat).
- Bake for about 20 minutes until firm, but not browned. 
- Remove to rack and let cool.

Easy Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake

From Womans Day Sept 2009:

Easy Vanilla Chocolate-Chip Cake
Makes: 1, 13x9 in baking pain or 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 2/3 all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup oil
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup mini-chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare pans- use foil lining for pan if making in to a cake.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl with a whisk.  Whisk milk, water, oil, vanilla and eggs in a 4 cup bowl.
3. Make a well with the flour mixture and gradually add in the wet ingredient mixture.  Whisk until just blended (some lumps may exist).
4. Stir in chips by hand.
5. Divide batter in to cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. 
6. Cool completely on a wire rack for 30 minutes before icing.

Variations:
 Chocolate-chocolate chip: Add 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to dry ingredients. Increase water to 1 cup and omit eggs.  Bake as directed.

Spiced Apple: Reduce sugar to 1 1/2 cups and add 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice to dry ingredients.  Omit milk, water and chocolate chips.  Reduce oil to 1/2 cup and add 1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple sauce to liquid ingredients. Bake as directed.

Super Easy Thomas Cookies

Super Easy Thomas Cookies

Ingredients:
Preschooler interested in Thomas & his friends
Refrigerated sugar cookie dough
Prepared icing in some form- preferrably easy for preschooler to handle. Admittedly, I loved this Betty Crocker Cupcake Icing, Cloud White, 8.4-Ounce Can(Pack of 6) as I could just reapply icing once my kids licked it off theirs after we finished the decorating/creative process
Train cookie cutters (these would be great, though not what I had on hand: Cuisipro Green Train Cookie Cutters)
Assorted extras- we used decorative crystals in lieu of a specific color of icing

Gel food colorings would have been nice, but again, aren't necessary.  It's about creativity.

Have preschooler (and younger sibling(s) if applicable) help you roll out and cut the cookie dough.  Once you get a good "number" of engines and tenders, feel free to just give your kids the rest of the dough to treat as play dough. 

When it comes time to ice, have your preschooler pick the engine he or she wishes to duplicate on the cookies.  Have fun asking them questions about what makes that engine unique or special, what number they are, etc.  We also had fun quizzing Daddy when he got home about which engines we'd made.  He did really well!

Can you guess who is in the picture???

Vanilla Snack (Cup)Cake

Modified this recipe from Family Circle My 2010 (Again, seriously, sign up- Ebates).  I accidentally purchased Fat Free cream cheese at the store, but next time would buy 1/3 Fat and I think it would help make the icing a bit thicker.  My son wouldn't touch the icing but ate 3 without today (and I shamelessly coaxed him to eat his dinner by offering one as a treat after).  My daughter loved all parts of the cupcake- icing and cake which says something.  Usually they only lick off the icing.

Vanilla Snack Cake
Servings: 28 cupcakes or 24 slices of cake

Indredients:
Cake:
1 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 t salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted light butter
1 1/2 cups light agave syrup
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup skim milk

Icing:
2 packages (8 oz each) 1/3 fat cream cheese, softened
1 stick of unsalted light butter, softened
 6 Tbsp light agave syrup

Directions:
Heat oven to 325.  If making cake, great a 9 x 13 in pan with non stick cooking spray.  If making cupcakes, line muffin tins with wrappers. (I love these: Wilton Easy Flex Silicone Baking Cups 12 Count)

Whisk together dry cake ingredients.
Beat together agave syrup and butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time beating after each.  Beat in vanilla.

On low, beat flour mixture alternating additions of wet ingredients and milk.  Pour in to prepared pan.  If using cupcakes, I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to help make them even.

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes for the cake, 25-30 minutes for cupcakes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. (Don't have a toothpick? Try a wooden skewer.)  Cool cake completely.

While cake cools, prepare icing.  Beat together cream cheese, butter and agave syrup until fluffy.  Beat until good spreading consistency. (This is where I stumbled a bit- mine was sort of runny with the fat free so I added 1/2 cup of powdered sugar which helped some...)

Spread icing on to cooled cake & store in fridge.

NI (as I made it, per cupcake):  205 cals, 6 g fat, 41.5 mg chol, 329 mg sodium, 33 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 5.3 g protein
NI (with 1/3 fat cream cheese, per cupcake): 219 cals, 9 g fat, 48 mg chol, 272 mg sodium, 31 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 4.9 g protein

As printed in Family Circle, per slice of cake: 313 cals, 19 g fat, 86 mg chol, 203 mg sodium, 1 g fiber, 6 g protein