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Friday, December 18, 2009

DAY OF REST - My Wife GUEST BLOGS Her MOM's COOKIE RECIPE

Greetings Internet friends... Your hairy knuckled neanderthal gets another day of rest as my dear wife has agreed to guest blog for me today. She made one of her Mother's recipes for our Neighborhood COOKIE & BEER EXCHANGE PARTY - Sausages/Beer Cheese Soup and Cookies! If you like her post, drop a comment. Maybe your encouragement will get her to come back again and guest blog for me just for the fun of it, instead of me having to trade housework for her writing skills...

Greetings Foodies,

I'm Jackie, the wife, the maid, the laundry fairy and the washerwoman. I used to be the cook, but in June, Dave took over the cooking and I haven't made much since except oatmeal and the occasional cake. I was raised on a very bland diet, not even an onion in our meatloaf. I like cafeteria food, hospital food and if I were ever in prison, probably prison food.

It all started one Christmas when I was at a complete loss as to what to give him, so I gave him BBQ/smoking classes. He loved smoking meat and grilling, and is excellent at both. He feeds the less fortunate, i.e. neighbors who live on Honey Nut Cheerios. We spent our entire summer entertaining on the patio. Those people are now trained to grab utensils and platters and respond at any given order by our personal chef!

I must say, of all his previous outlandish and scary hobbies, cooking is my favorite. Spices and rubs are new to my palette and I'm finally getting used to flavorful food. Who knew food could taste like this at home? He's also a bartender and makes amazing chocolate martinis and peach martinis. I equate them to being my own form of crack. He is quite handy to have around.

Living with him is not without its hazards though. He has started a fire in the oven, set the backyard on fire and there is even a huge singe mark on the house, not sure how or when that happened. Probably better not to know. However, the smells wafting from our backyard have attracted many new friends. The smoke signals alert the neighborhood that something is in the works. We rarely ate alone!

In my youth, I loved shopping for shoes and purses. On a recent trip to Phoenix to visit Dave's mother and stepfather, I realized I had matured. We walked hand-in-hand through grocery stores. Romantic, huh? Amazing what some of those places offered. There were foods I didn't even recognize. We were mesmerized by it all.

My grandmother's specialty was cinnamon rolls and kolaches. She made 8-10 pans every Saturday and shared them with her friends and neighbors at church on Sunday. They were to die for. The great thing about Grandma was that even if we didn't show up at church, she delivered!! Grandma taught me that putting french dressing on cottage cheese gives it a kick. She denies showing me that, but where else would I have come up with it? One of the highlights of staying with her on her farm when I was little was that on Saturday, we went to "town" and bought groceries. Then, we went to the post office and got baby chicks. They were delivered in boxes with holes in them, through the post office. Those were the days!

The cookies I made for our cookie exchange were from a recipe of my mother's. My mother is a pie person by trade. Family gatherings at my grandmother's house included over 75 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren plus spouses. There are more than that now, but with everyone living busy lives with their own families, we don't get together like that very often. My mother made about 20 pies for each holiday, taking favorite orders from everyone. It was heaven. She had no clue that you could buy pie crusts already made. She always made her own and they were always perfect.

And so, blogger friends of my husband's, I am pleased to pass on to you my Mom's Peanut Blossoms...

Peanut Blossoms

1/2 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup packed Brown Sugar

1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla

2 Tbs Milk

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1 and 3/4 Cups Flour

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Soda


Chocolate Stars and Colored Sugar

Cream shortening and sugars: add vanilla, egg and milk. Add peanut butter and mix well. Finally, add dry ingredients and do final mixing. Take rounded Tsp of dough and roll into balls. Roll top of ball in colored sugar. Put on cookie sheet (parchment paper). Press chocolate star in center of each cookie.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Yields 3 dozen

Thanks honey... Of course I liked your cookies best, and readers, take a look at the symbolic photo of our cookie presentation for the party below...

I put Jackie's cookies, as I put Jackie herself on a pedestal for all the world to see...

Oh, one more thing... the fires were small and almost always manageable. The scorch mark on the house is just carbon build up from the wind blowing smoke. At no point during my cooking career was the actual frame of the house ablaze (as far as she knows).

24 comments:

  1. Now this is a Christmas cookie! You picked a great day to post this because this snowy weekend is a great time to get in the kitchen and try these!

    Thank you for sharing about your family and Dave. Guess if we ever travel to your neck of the woods, I'll look for smoke signals to find your home at dinner time! ;-)

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  2. You seem like a level headed woman..opposites do attract :) Nice cookie recipe!

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  3. Go figure, you're hilarious, too! The cookies look awesome ... peanut blossoms are some of my favorites. However, my dad demands a chocolate star in the center, but my hubby demands Hershey's kisses. How do you decide which is best?

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  4. Angel, a rule of thumb MUST always be to please the HUBBY

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  5. Great post and these cookies look fabulous! Enjoyed learning more about you and your family. Joyeaux Noel!

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  6. Thanks for this post Jackie! I especially love the old pictures.

    I know I would feel right at home at your house - Yellow Tail next to the mixer! :D

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  7. Well, you need to step in guest post more often! Loved the pictures and the stories!

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  8. Dave is lucky to have such a fabulous guest post-er handy. Most of us would not be able to hand our blogs over to our spouses with good results.

    I love the colored sugar on the cookies; so festive. The stories about your family were wonderful.

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  9. Great post Jackie. Those cookies looks mmmmm fantastic. And the pictures and story were a great add.

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  10. Loved the guest post and I would really like one of those cookies.

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  11. I loved your post Jackie, and your tales of living with fire loving Dave.I can tell that life is never dull at your house! LOL! Your old photos are wonderful, as are the cookies. I love Peanut Blossoms and yours look perfect!
    Dave, how sweet to put your wife on a pedestal, but those singe marks on the house? That is not a good thing! :)

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  12. Great post Jackie! You should come back often :--)

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  13. Dave you're so lucky to be married to a sweetie, and Jackie vice versa! What great memories of your grandmother and mom. Those cookies look terrific, and I bet they've already made someone's day a lot brighter!

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  14. Jackie you can fill in for Dave anytime in my book. You have a fun and unique style of writing. Great post and wonderful cookies. In fact would you consider guest hosting at OuR KrAzY KiTcHeN?

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  15. Great pictures, I love Christmas cookies!

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  16. Awesome! Your wife jackie blogs as well as you do! I smiled and I laughed. She is pretty cool. Great post! Great cookie recipe too.

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  17. The picture of Mom with the pinstripe suite and the Hairdo of Dad was too kool for school.

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  18. Hi Jackie! Excellent post!

    I love what BD said and I agree with Tamy too, we'd love to see you too over at Our Krazy Kitchen!

    You are not alone - I have scorch marks on my back patio ceiling - I don't wanna know!

    Thanks for the excellent recipe. Say hi to Dave for me, and I want to know when you are going to start your own blog!? :-)

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  19. What a great guest post! I loved seeing your old photographs and reading about your family memories. These cookies look wonderful!

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  20. wow great post, love your stories...the cookies look so good!

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  21. Got my long haired, black and white cat all in a fluff because I was laughing out loud at Jackie's introductory comments. Of course The Mitter had to walk on the keyboard as I was zooming in on those wonderful cookies. Peanut butter is a favorite. I think I might have to make these over the next few days.

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  22. Great post Jackie! Loved the pictures of your family and the essential ingredients for making the cookies (ie. Yellow tail). Living with Dave must be a blast. You make a great team.

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  23. I love this post Jackie! Please make an appearance more often. LOL over the funny photos, love the old photos, and thanks for the cookie recipe. I can't decide who's funnier, you or Dave. On any account, I'd love to be your next door neighbors.

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  24. You should see what Dave does when you're not here to keep him straight. I can't tell though, Bro Code and all ;)

    Great post Jackie.

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