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.

Christmas Gift Ideas By: Siobhan

Now that the holidays are over, I wanted to compile a post with the different gifts we have made this year. These would make great gift ideas for Christmas 2015! I am putting links throughout the post that you can click on if you'd like to see the blog post that corresponds with each craft.

  For this Snowman craft we put 1 cup of hot chocolate in a bag, then we put it in another bag with some marshmallows decorated with Wilton Edible Markers. We tied the bag with some ribbon and added a cute gift tag.

 Peppermint Brownies in a Jar (click here for the recipe)

 Rootbeer Reindeer (click here to see our Rootbeer Reindeer tutorial)

Tea Wreath (click here to see our Tea Wreath tutorial)

We made these Chai Spiced Almonds as gifts, but these are also a great snack for any time of the year! (click here to see our Chai Spiced Almonds recipe post)

Happy New Year's 2014

 Happy New Year 2015! 

We hope you had a wonderful New Year's Day! We had a nice family dinner at home. We always have a meal of appetizers and salad with a yummy dessert.

Here are some pictures... 

 

Shrimp Cocktail

 We tried some Tortilla Pringles chips with some of our favorite Queso Blanco Dip.

 Raspberry Ginger Ale

 Poppy Salad

 Jalapeno Poppers

 For dessert I made some Cranberry Bliss Bars. These were delicious! I'll be posting the recipe for the bars later today.

Happy New Year's Everyone.

Picture of the Day By: Tert

I found this picture we took a while ago of Tert's memory verse notebook...

Joshua 1:9: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. 

Tert's Illustration: A Girl in front of a fallen electrical line praying that God would give her courage.

Cranberry Bliss Bars By: Siobhan

 

For those of you who are Starbucks fans or blondie/brownie fans, this is the perfect recipe. This recipe is from the Recipe Girl website. They taste even better than the Starbucks cranberry bars. These are absolutely delicious and don't require too much time. I made them for a New Year's treat. 

Ingredients

BLONDIE LAYER:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 ounces white baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped

For the blondies...

Cut your butter into cubes. This will allow it to melt totally evenly. Melt the butter for one minute in the microwave.

 Stir in the brown sugar. Allow it to cool to room temperature.

 Opt: Sift your flour before adding it to the bowl.

  Whisk together your dry ingredients.

 Add eggs and vanilla to room temperature brown sugar/butter mixture and beat with electric mixer.

 

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Beat until thoroughly combined. Mixture will be thick.

 Stir in the 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and 6 oz. of the white chocolate.

 Spread in pan and bake 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the frosting...

 Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add half of the remaining melted white chocolate chips gradually. Beat until blended. Frost the cooled brownies. Sprinkle with cranberries. Drizzle with remaining white chocolate. Cut into bars or triangles.

Retelling of Pecos Bill by Rus (age 9)

The Wild West was a brutal place. Many extreme dangers were around every corner. The only

ones that seemed fit for it were the cowboys. They were wild. They were prowling, howling, scowlingmen ,but the cowboy whom all envied was Pecos Bill. He was extremely fast. He was faster than ashooting star. He could lift a herd of buffalo with his pinkie finger, but he had one weakness. He wasdeathly afraid of tornadoes.

                One day a swirling, sweeping tornado swept through. Pecos was rounding

up the cattle, which did not want to go into their cage, when suddenly a screaming wind went flying by.Suddenly the strong corral started to crack. Screaming screeching  wind even seemed to be running from...a tornado! The cattle started mooing. Suddenly Pecos was lifted off his feet.                  Pecos ,who was having lots of fun, was starting to overcome his fear. Suddenly he swept through a

rustling, bustling town. Howling, Pecos was sweeping through the towns faster than a herd of buffalo.

                 Suddenly huge streaks of lightning lit up the tornado. Pecos was relay surprised. Suddenly a hush went over the towering tornado which had been holding Pecos up, and then there was silence. It had died! Pecos plummeted to the ground. He left a land mark called the Grand Canyon. He just leaped out of the hole like a kangaroo with a stick of dynamite at the end of its tail.  He ran home to tell his tale to his folks.