Orange Dreams

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups vanilla chips
Ina mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and orange peel. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 deg. For 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 4 ½ dozen.

Toffee-Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup margarine or butter, softened
½ cup shortening
¼ cup honey
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 pkg (12 oz) mini-semisweet chocolate chips
1 pkg (6 oz) almond brickle chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix brown sugar, margarine, shortening, honey and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and brickle chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Centers will be soft. Cool 1 to 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Yield: approx. 4 dozen cookies

Note: May need to add ¼ to ½ cup more flour to the dough.

Cranberry Hootycreek Cookies

1 cup margarine or butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together margarine or butter, sugar and brown sugar; add eggs and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in oats, cranberries, white chocolate chips and pecans.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until done. Remove cookies to a cooling rack and cool thoroughly before storing in an airtight container.

Rachel's note: I gave mixes for these cookies to my friends for Christmas last year. Several of them told me later that they were the best cookies they've ever had. I don't know about that, but they are really good cookies.

Chocolate Crinkles

I got this recipe from Family Fun magazine about a year ago, and finally just tried it yesterday. They were really good!

3/4 c melted butter

1/2 c cocoa

1 c sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 ounces mini chocolate chips (I just used regular chocolate chips)

3/4 c powdered sugar

In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, cocoa, and sugar. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a large spoonj to slowly add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture. Stir in the chips. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours. Heat the oven to 350. Form the dough into 1-inch balls, then roll them in powdered sugar. Bake the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet for 10 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then lightly dust the cookies with the remaining powdered sugar. Makes 4 dozen.

Waffle Cookies

A friend of mine made these before we moved and OH MY GOODNESS are they the best! She made them with a belgian waffle iron, but I guess you can make them with a regular waffle iron.
She says there is some improvising required (see where you add the flour in the directions).

Waffle Cookies

½ lb. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
3 eggs
5-ish c. flour

Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix. Add enough flour to roll into balls. Use only enough that they won’t stick to waffle iron. Mix together powdered sugar, water and flavored extract to form thin glaze. Cook a couple at a time on hot waffle iron until very light brown, but cooked through (maybe 60 seconds). Dip in glaze while still hot (important). Drain on racks to cool

Zucchini Bread

Another really delicious recipe from my neighbor Cecily.

I know the zucchini season is over, but I had some in my freezer I needed to use, so I made some muffins and bread and took a picture and you get the recipe now.

Cream together:
3 eggs
2 c sugar
3/4 c applesauce
1/4 c oil
2 t vanilla


Add:
2 c zucchini, shreaded
Mix.

Add:
3 c flour
1/4 c cocoa
1 t cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c chocolate chips.

Place in 2 greased loaf pans, bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Bake muffins for 15 min.

Cream Soup

A couple of weeks ago I started making Chicken and Rice for dinner, only to get right in the middle of it and realize that I was out of Cream of Mushroom Soup. So I called my dear neighbor Cecily to see if I could borrow some. She said, "Oh, I don't have any because I never buy it. I just make my own." So I took the recipe and it turned out really well. I've used it a couple of times since then and I don't think I will every buy another can of cream of anything soup again!

Cream Soup

1 1/3 c water
1/3 c powdered milk
1/4 c flour
1 tsp bullion (or more for a little more flavor. You could also probably add some mushrooms.)

Combine ingredients in small saucepan and heat on medium. Whisk until thick.