Tasty Thursday: Paul's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Dad passed away 3 years ago, about a week before his birthday, which is today.  Every year since then on his birthday  I have made his cookies to honor his memory. I also make them for our Christmas Eve visit to his grave. And of course whenever I feel like eating some.

He spent a lot of time perfecting this cookie recipe over the years. We in my family think this is a really fantastic classic chocolate chip cookie.
Big, thick, sometimes somewhat doughy bakery style cookies are all the rage right now, made with a ball of dough the size of a baseball.
These cookies are not those cookies. These are lightly crispy, and golden on the outside and chewy on the inside.
I thought I had put this recipe on here already but apparently not.
Every time I post about these cookies elsewhere, I get requests for the recipe.
So here it is.

Paul’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Paul Bartholomew)

Preheat oven to 350

Cream together:

 4 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups white sugar 

1 ½ cups shortening

Slowly mix in:

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour (put in ½ cup at a time)

1 TBSP vanilla

Add 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Roll into walnut size balls. Place on un-greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will be just light golden around the edges and may look slightly raw in the middle when it’s time to take them out. Cool on the cookie sheet. Makes about 4 to 6 dozen cookies.

Girl's Night Out

Friday night was girls night out, or in actually as we all gathered at a friend's house for an St. Patty's themed movie night. The plan was to watch Brigadoon and I made some green treats to share.
I was going to bring a large version of my pot of gold, but in the end decided for something even more delicious, Carmel Pretzel Bites made with Rolo candies and M&Ms.

Carmel Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:

Square, bite sized pretzels
Rolo Chocolate Carmel candies
M&M candies
Pecans

Preheat oven to 250
Unwrap a bag of Rolo candies.
Line a baking sheet with parchment, foil or Silpat.
Lay out square pretzels on the cookie sheet.
Put a Rolo on each one.








Put in the oven for about 4 minutes or just until the Rolo are soft.  You will probably have to sacrifice one and press on it to see how soft they are. Take them out of the oven and press an M&M or pecan into the top of the Rolo. Let cool completely before serving.

Of course I took all the green M&M's out of the bag to use in mine.

The other treat I made was green cookies that I found on Pinterest. (I finally jumped in and joined.)
They were surprisingly tasty, although they seemed a little salty. That may have been because I used salted butter and didn't take that into account. Or it may have been the Jell-o messing with my taste buds.
They are St. Patrick's Day Jell-o Cookies.

Here is a picture of mine. I didn't have cute sprinkles, or good lighting. ;)

Here is the Pin.

Source: gwennypenny.com via Amy on Pinterest

Tasty Tuesday: Carrot Cake from Pots and Pins

My darling husband turned thirty something this last weekend and he requested carrot cake. I have tried many recipes and had not found a winner yet. BUT,  I knew I had recently saved what sounded like a  good one, but had yet to try it. I frequently find excellent recipes on Pots and Pins, so when she posted a carrot cake recipe I saved it to try later. I dug it up from my computer files, got the necessary ingredients, and baked it Sunday for the family get together.

SUCCESS! Everyone loved it!

I made some slight deviations in the recipe, due to my nutmeg being packed, and my  husband not liking nuts in carrot cake. I also didn't pay attention to what size my can of pineapple was and put more than 8 oz in. And I made one of the 3 pans without raisins.


Here is the link to her post. I highly recommend this cake. Even I, who am not normally a carrot cake fan, liked it. My icing was a little runny, but I think it was just because it was hot in my house.
So very Yummy! Thanks Nan!

A little treasure

I was reminded by this post on Make and Takes of something I made for the kiddos last year as a St. Patrick's day surprise.

I don't know where the original idea came from, but these were fast and easy. These are not durable, though, definitely disposable. The paint will scratch off. I was going for fast and cute and used what I had on hand. If you want long lasting, go for the Make and Take version.

I used plastic baby food cups, as we had a million and one on hand with an 8 month old running the household. You could use fruit/applesauce cups. I just used some craft paint to make them black. Then I put a sticker on some green paper, used my darling Stampin' Up! punch to punch it out, stuck it on a craft stick, filled the cup with Rolos and there you have a pot of gold for your little ones. I really like the Rainbow in the Make and Take version, so I may make some more permanent ones this year and then keep using them. I might also try to make the topper on the stick removable so the kids can wear them to school to avoid all those pinches!

You can use your leftover Rolos to make Caramel Pretzel Squares.

Ingredients:
Square bite sized pretzels
Rolos candies (or Hershey's Kisses or Hugs or any other chocolatey good treat)
M&Ms, pecans,or any other small edible that tastes fabulous with caramel &/or chocolate


Preheat your oven to 350
On a baking sheet lined with parchment or a non-stick mat, lay out as many square bite sized pretzels as you want to make.
Top each pretzel with one Rolo candy. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until the chocolate just starts to melt. Take them out of the oven and quickly place one M&M firmly in the center of each Rolo. Cool to set, then enjoy!