All Day Cookie Marathon

I am a cookie baker wannabe. I imagine myself baking cookies and if you took a tour of my baking cupboard you would see that it is replete with every kind of cookie baking ingredient imaginable--especially chips. Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chocolate peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, chocolate caramel chips and butterscotch chips. Why so many? Because I imagine myself a cookie baker but I rarely ever do it, much to my family's dismay. I threaten to bake cookies all the time.

So, today is my official Christmas Cookie Baking Day. So far I've mixed up Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies, Tulip Girl's Gingerbread Men, a double batch of sugar cut-out cookies, and Snickerdoodles. Because they all have to chill before rolling out and baking, I decided to make a bar cookie while we're waiting.

I haven't made this before but it sure looks good:

Magic Cookie Bars

(Recipe from OPERS Employee Cookbook, given to me by my mother. The recipe was submitted by Mary Ann McNeal)

1/2 c. margarine or butter
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 (i4 oz. can) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips(I used chocolate/caramel swirl chips)
1 (13 1/2 oz can) flaked coconut (1 1/2 c.)
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and mix with graham cracker crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Pour condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with remaining ingrediants. Press down firmly and bake 25-30 minutes.

[update] These bar cookies are sinfully rich and very, very yummy. Destined to be a family favorite. I don't think I pressed them down hard enough because they are very crumbly, so if you decide to make them, I'd suggest assembling them with the nuts and coconut first and then putting the chips on the top and pressing down hard. They might hold together better. After sampling on Saturday I froze the rest of them, to be taken out when cookies are needed. I can attest to the fact that they are delicious right out of the freezer and hold together perfectly. (Hey, I did say when cookies are needed!)]

Jake was amazed to find out how many batches of cookies I have mixed up so far. He asked me why I was making so many (I think he was in shock!) I told him that they are for when friends and family come and for us to have throughout the Christmas season. He doesn't want me to share the Snickerdoodles.

Jake doesn't remember it, but there was another marathon cookie making day; must've been 16 or 17 years ago based on the age he is now. My mother, my sister, Kathy, and I got together and baked Christmas cookies all day. John and Jake and nieces, Katie and Meggie helped cut out and decorate them. The guys watched football. I think it may have been during some kind of playoffs. I remember there was a big earthquake in San Fransisco (?) and that's where the game was being played. We had so much fun together that day. My sister gave me my very first Christmas mug that year. In fact I brought it with me when I sat down to blog.

Kathy can fill in the details or correct me on the specifics of the day. Maybe she'll add some memories. The more I think about it, it may have been Easter cookies. . . and maybe it was baseball. . .

It's starting to smell good in here. Probably ought to go check the timer. . .

[UPDATE: Let the revisions begin. . .Tom tells me that I must be morphing several cookie baking days into one. It was baseball, but it wasn't Easter because it was the 1989 World Series--San Francisco and Oakland (Oakland won). And that time it wasn't cut out cookies; he thinks it was pumpkin cookies and Kid's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. And that couldn't've been the day Kathy gave me my coffee mug. . .this is becoming like a "Fuzzy Memories" episode, by Jack Handy"]

Bok Choy Salad

I've been poking around Marla's Blog for the past few weeks. What an lovely mix of interesting, thought provoking topics and light hearted fun!

This morning I checked out her salad recipes. As usual, when I pick up a recipe or two, I like to return the favor, so here's my recipe for Bok Choy Salad:

Bok Choy Salad

1 bundle of green onions
1 head of bok choy cabbage
1/2 head of green cabbage

Chop as for slaw and refrigerate overnight.

Brown 1 package of broken Ramen noodles (noodles only) in 1 stick of butter with one package sliced almonds. When toasty brown, drain on paper towels and then refrigerate separately overnight. (it will seem as though the noodles will never brown, but take heart and pay attention--it happens fast when it does finally happen!)

dressing:

Shake together:

1 cup wesson oil (I use sunflower oil)
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
2T soy sauce

You guessed it--refrigerate overnight.

Assemble the salad right before serving, shake dressing to mix.
Toss and serve.

God's Minute

December 10

Then Thou shall call, and the Lord shall answer.--Isaiah 58:9

O THOU Who art so distant that no reach of our thought can compass Thee, and so near that we are apt to overlook Thee, hear our prayer. Our Saviour taught us to address Thee in the endearing names of our homes. We can call ourselves They sons, and we can call Thee our Father and our Friend. And we are not as unimportant as some time we seem, for if we are less than the child, to care for us Thou art more than the mother. As in spring days men walk in their gardens to see how their flowers and fruits are growing, so may we go through our souls to observe what the divine nature is bringing forth there. May we see much love, aspiration, hope, courage and other riches of Thy grace. Here we promise more faithfuly to cultivate the good seeds and eradicate the weeds. And our promise is not a passing wish, but we pray that it may be a consecrated purpose. Bless our country with strength for righteousness. Bless our homes with children that shall develop in integrity and usefulness. Forgive us for misemphasizing the things of time more than those of eternity. In all trouble, help us to say, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Aid us to hold within our thought and love and hope dear ones who have gone to their heavenly home. May we prepare for reunited fellowship with them, and unveiled communion with God, by nobler living. In our Master's name.

Amen.

Rev. John W. Langdale,
Cincinnati, Ohio

A Sunny Spot. . .

. . . on a cold day

OK, admit it. . .are you yawning?

Narnia Images In Chicagoland

"Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough even prickly. "Why it is just like the branches of trees!" exclaimed Lucy. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away from where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air."

"She began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood toward the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. . .she stood there looking at it, wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next. . ."

C.S. Lewis, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" pg. 6 and 7

You can read Carol's review here.