Merry Christmas 2021! (Siobhan)

~Merry Christmas 2021~

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!! We had a wonderful, quiet Christmas as a family this year. It was our last Christmas together before I move to Birmingham, so it was definitely bittersweet. We made so many precious memories, which I will always cherish!

It wouldn't be Christmas without our annual sibling cookie decorating!!

Our sibling gift exchange: Connor won the best wrapping, hands down!

One of the best parts of living in Alabama is being able to go on hikes on Christmas day! We went to Monte Sano as a family and enjoyed the gorgeous 70 degree weather. 

 

We ended Christmas day with a trip to 88 Buffet for a delicious dinner. Owen's favorite part was the ice cream :)

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Siobhan)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall is my favorite time of the year to bake. There are so many amazing fall flavors to try! My favorite combination is pumpkin and chocolate. These Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are a delicious example. There are lots of ingredients, but these cookies are not hard to make. They have lots of spices, which makes them the perfect fall treat.

Ingredients

(Yields about 20 small cookies)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 T pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugars until the mixture is lump-free. Add in the vanilla and pumpkin.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a large bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula.

Fold in chocolate chips. It is a little tricky to get them to stick to the dough, but do your best!

The next step is very important: chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dough is chilled, form it into balls. I made these cookies quite small (about 1-1.5 T dough each) using this cookie scoop. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake! The cookies will look under-baked, and they will not spread out much at all in the oven. Press them down lightly and allow them to set up on the cookie sheet.

Click here for the recipe printable.

Click here to see our recipe for pumpkin muffin cups.

Healthy Banana Cookies By: Siobhan

Yesterday I was doing some baking and decided to try a recipe for healthy banana cookies. This recipe was ridiculously easy and so yummy!

 Ingredients

• 3 large, ripe bananas well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coconut oil barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, olive oil)
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2/3 cup almond meal or pulsed nuts
• 1/3 cup coconut finely shredded & unsweetened
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 6-7 ounces chocolate chips

 In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla, and coconut oil. Whisk together and set aside.

I didn't have any almond meal, so I took some chopped walnuts and pulsed them in the food processor. This worked fine as a substitute. If you end up using nuts, make sure to measure them after they are pulsed.

Whisk together oats, nuts or meal, coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine.

Pour in chocolate chips.

Drop cookies on a cookie sheet. I used about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons of dough per cookie.

These came out as perfect bite-sized cookies.

Bake cookies in a 350 degree oven. Bake as long as possible without burning the bottoms.

 I had a lot of willing taste-testers...

Enjoy!

Granola Cookies By: Siobhan and Tert

~Granola Cookies~

Hello Everyone! Today Tert and I have a recipe for you for chocolate chip granola cookies. This recipe is for a HUGE batch of cookies. We usually freeze 4-6 quart bags of dough, depending on how much we put in each bag. These cookies are absolutely delicious and very easy to make.

Ingredients

4		eggs
16	oz	bottle oil
12	oz jar	honey
12	oz jar	molasses
2	cups	brown sugar
1⁄4	cup	vanilla
1	42 oz. container	quick oats
4-5	cups	white wheat flour
2	tsp	salt
2	tsp	baking soda
1	large bag	chocolate chips

Combine the eggs, oil, honey, and molasses in a large bowl.

Stir together the brown sugar and vanilla.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Stir the dry and wet ingredients together.

 

Since there is SO much cookie dough made with this recipe, we have actually broken a spoon before trying to mix it all together! Either add the dry ingredients more gradually to the wet, or put a sandwich bag on your hand and combine them with your hands. Make sure you roll up your sleeves, because this part can get a little messy.

Tert was thrilled when I told him he could mix the dough with his hands :)

Once the dry and wed ingredients are combined, add your chocolate chips.

*Our dough turned out a little runny, so we had to add more than 4 cups of flour. Start with four, but if it seems runny to you, make sure you add more flour. Otherwise you might end up with one big cookie!

Label some quart bags and fill them with cookie dough.

When ready, roll into small balls, bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes and enjoy!
Click here for our granola cookies recipe printable.