Katya’s Cooking Class!
Wow, that sounds funny, as I am not too overly fond of cooking! However, I made my delicious idea and the kids have given it a resounding *thumbs up*! Oh, and we are “baking”, NOT cooking!
The recipe I use is one that a friend of mine found in Family Circle or Woman’s Day magazine many years ago. (gosh, that makes me sound *so* old!) The recipe was for bar cookies and was named “Split Seconds”. I suppose that name was given because of the rapid and easy preparation of these little treats!
Here is the recipe:
3/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup sugar 1 egg
2 cups flour 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350.
In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add egg and beat again. Add baking powder and flour beating until completely blended. Add vanilla and mix again.
Notice that I am using a Kitchen Aid mixer. In the event you are doing likewise, I just basically threw everything into the bowl and blended well! Also, I used a tablespoon of vanilla, as I am a TOTAL vanilla freak!!!
You will end up with a nice soft dough. Roll into a ball, then divide into 4 pieces.
Now, if your mom deprived you of the fun of playing with Play Dough as a child, you can NOW pretend! Roll the dough into 4 “snakes”, each 13″ long.
Wasn’t that FUN? Now, take your hand and GENTLY (read, lighty!) press the pinky side into the dough (center) to form a “trough” the length of each roll. Do NOT press too hard, or the trough will end up too deep and the cookies will fold in half and not look nice. (yes, I learned this the hard way!!!)
Now you may use your filling. This can be any jam or jelly. The sky is the limit. If it can be baked, you could use it as a filling for these simple cookies. I have used strawberry, raspberry, blackberry jam, as well as grape jelly! Apple would be delicious as well. Be creative!
Because the pumpkin butter was so smooth, it flowed right into the trough quite nicely. And now, the cookies are ready to bake!
The recipe originally called for a baking time of 15-20 minutes. Since every oven is different, I usually bake things the shortest time period and then check. My maternal grandmother was a cook for a fraternity house at Penn State University. She taught me years ago that a cookie was done as soon as the bottom turns a golden brown color. That is the rule of thumb I still use!
After 15 miutes, mine were done. Cool on the cookie sheet, then cut each roll. I generally cut the rolls in half, then each half into thirds, ending up with six cookies per roll. These are what I ended up with!
Enjoy! (and please let me know how YOU used this recipe!
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Total yum! Thanks for sharing. BTW I’m still out here. Been fighting a sinus infection for the past week and haven’t been able to stay awake long enough at night to post anything. I think I have a kidney infection too. Getting some antibiotics from a friend who works for a Dr. tomorrow… hope to kick this and start feeling better in the next few days. I don’t want another week like I had tis past week!
hmm looks like hotdogs!
Terri! So good to SEE you! I am so sorry you are feeling so awful!! Get better FAST!
As I said, I miss seeing you!
I commented on this earlier, but my comment must have flown off to who-knows-where in hyperspace! What I said earlier is that I was going to have a lazy day, but I may need to bake. I did not actually bake today though. Perhaps after work tomorrow I will bake some cookies to have as dessert after dinner. Sarah starts dance again tomorrow, so it will be a hectic evening.
MMMMMM! I went to Weggies earlier and took a spin down the International isle and guess what I found? At almost $5 a (small) jar I decided it better taste amazing, but I would buy it anyway. I rarely splurge on food items, so I bought the pumpkin butter. Upon returning home, I only had about 40 minutes before I had to leave again, so I ran up to my computer, wrote down the basics of the recipe and ran back downstairs. I am SO glad I have a Kitchenaid! From start to finish I think it took me about 35 minutes. They were quite the hit. In fact I just got home from Sarah’s dance class and I am not sure where the rest of the cookies are, hmmm…
The only thing I would do differently next time is add a little more pumpkin butter. I didn’t quite use enough. I was afraid it would overflow the trough if I used too much. I also had no vanilla extract, so I used Vanilla syrup (like for flavoring coffee and tea drinks). I have no idea how much I put in as there was only a little left in the bottle, but they sure were tasty! Thanks for the awesome recipe. They are the prefect thing to make and take to a “bring a dessert” party type thingy.