Yesterday I went for lunch with a new friend, Dawn. Very nice and most interesting lady. We ate at a reasonably new restaurant called "Embers" and I must say, the lunch was delightful.
Talking about friends, another lovely lady I know, Gloria, who lives in my apartment building, offered to make some cookies for me. I have given up doing anything finicky like that because of my arthritic fingers (my excuse, LOL) so she whipped me up a batch, love her heart. Thanks so much dear friend. They really are good. There are called "The Breakfast Club Cookie" (my darling daughter-in-law gave me the recipe when I was visiting this summer, and she's a good little baker) and here's the recipe just in case you want to make them for yourself. Gloria said that the mix was a little dry, so perhaps add another egg and the almonds perhaps should be chopped up a little...............
THE BREAKFAST CLUB COOKIE
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup large flake rolled oats
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 ½ tbsp. liquid honey
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup whole almonds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp. flax seeds
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberriesPreheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt until evenly blended. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and honey until smooth and creamy using an electric hand mixer on high speed, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat on medium low speed until just blended, about 15 seconds.
Gently fold in almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, raisins and cranberries.
Use a 1.5 oz. ice cream scoop to drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 3 inches apart. Flatten each cookie using the bottom of a glass and bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. These stay soft and chewy for days in an airtight container.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup large flake rolled oats
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 ½ tbsp. liquid honey
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup whole almonds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp. flax seeds
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberriesPreheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt until evenly blended. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and honey until smooth and creamy using an electric hand mixer on high speed, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat on medium low speed until just blended, about 15 seconds.
Gently fold in almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, raisins and cranberries.
Use a 1.5 oz. ice cream scoop to drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 3 inches apart. Flatten each cookie using the bottom of a glass and bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. These stay soft and chewy for days in an airtight container.
Later today a group of ladies from the Library and myself are picking up Chinese food and going to visit a colleague who recently has had surgery. She's doing very well and we thought it would be a nice treat for her. I haven't had Chinese food for ages so I'm really looking forward to it. Talking about the Library ladies, I just took them a little something for Christmas. When I worked there, each department used to get a gift basket from the Board of Directors/Management and we all looked forward to them so much but the last year or so it has been downsized to a gift card for about $8 per person for a local coffee joint. Personally, I would rather have had the gift basket so, I made one up for my department and took it over..................
I'm looking forward so much to one of my out-of-town sons coming to visit. He should be here on the weekend and plans on staying for around ten days, at least until after Christmas. We are going to have so much fun with my son who lives here and his girlfriend. I would so love to be with my little grandson and his mum and dad, but I will be with them in spirit and will chat with them on the phone. Nothing says Christmas like a little child opening a gift, the expressions, the oohs and aahs, so precious.
Here are a couple more of my little decorations, just to fill in some space, LOL
And my lovely white Christmas cactus coming along just fine.
'Til the next time, have a wonderful week and don't get too frazzled with all the shopping, baking, partying, etc. Remember the real reason for Christmas and take time to reflect on that. Without that, it would be just another day.
